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LIBERAL POLICY. 



Contributions by 

&& 

Rt. Hon. F. D. Acland, M. P. Charles RoberJJjvi. P. 

Percy Alden, M.P. Rt Hon< j M Ro |^ TSON> 

Rt. Hon. Harold Baker, m p 
M.P. 

The Marquess of Crewe, 
K.G. 



B. Seebohm Rowntree. 
Mrs. Runciman. 



Rt. Hon. Sir Willoughby Rt - Hon - Herbert Samuel, 

H. Dickinson, K. B. E. , M. P. M.P. 

J. M. Hogge, M.P. Lord Sheffield, 

Rt. Hon. Leif Jones, M.P. Rt . Hon. T. McKinnon 
Sir Edward Parrott, M.P. Wood, M.P. 

WITH 

FOREWORD BY 

The Rt. Hon. 

H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 



1918. 

LIBERAL PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT, 
42, Parliament Street, S.W.I. 



Price 2/6 Net. j 



vtatfal 



LIBERAL POLICY 

IN THE TASK OF 

Political and Social 
Reconstruction . 



1918. 

LIBERAL PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT, 

42, Parliament Street, S.W. 1. 







'■> 



" 






20, CAVENDISH SQUARE, 

November, 1918. 

Tl^ITH the passing of War and the coming 
of Peace an opportunity is presented to our 
people, such as has never occurred in our 
previous history, to place our social system upon 
, foundations which will secure the widest freedom 
and justice for all classes and the greatest potential 
development of our national resources. 

In the building of this New World upon the 
ruins of the Old, British Liberalism, with its great 
principle of equality of opportunity as the founda- 
tion of social justice, should play a guiding and 
inspiring part. 

The successful solution of the problems of 
Social Reconstruction will depend upon our 
fidelity to Liberal and Democratic principles 
and our determination to make the new era to 
which we are looking forward one in which a 
humane and civilised life shall be within reach 
of every man, woman and child in the country. 

In the following pages the various aspects 
of the problems of Social Reconstruction are 
surveyed and examined by some of the most 
experienced of my colleagues in the Liberal 
Party. 

I warmly commend their conclusions to the 
consideration of all my fellow Liberals. 




EDITOR'S NOTE. 



This Handbook is published in the confident 
belief that it will help to show and explain the 
spirit in which Liberals come to the crucial and 
critical task of Political and Social Reconstruction. 

Whilst it is almost certain that Liberals will 
unanimously approve the main proposals set forth 
in the Handbook, it is too much to expect that 
there may not be slight difference of opinion on 
some of the details. For that reason the various 
contributions are all signed by the Liberals 
severally responsible for them. 

It must not be thought that the importance 
of the subject is to be measured by the space 
allotted to it. The object aimed at has been to 
explore in greater detail the new territory opened 
up by the coming of Peace after War- 

G. G. 

42, Parliament Street, 
November, 1918 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I The War and the Peace. By the Rt. Hon. 

Herbert Samuel, M.P. ... - - ~ ' 10 

II. Liberalism and a League op Nations. By the 
Rt. Hon. Sir Willoughby H. Dickinson, K.B.B., 
M.P. .« 

III. Discharged Sailors' and Soldiers' Rights. 

By J. M. Hogge, M.P 

IV. The Liberties of the People. By the Rt. Hon. 

T. McKinnon Wood, M.P 29 ~ ^ 

V National Finance. By the Rt. Hon. Leif Jones, 

M.P 36_43 

VI. Free Trade. By the Rt. Hon. J. M. Robertson, M.P. 44—52 
VII Ireland. By the Most Hon. the Marquess of .Crewe, 

K.G 53_57 

VIII. Constitutional Reforms. By the Rt. Hon. 

Herbert Samuel, M.P 58_M 

IX. Women's Questions. By Mrs. Runciman ... 65—70 

X. Conditions of Industry. By B. Seebohm Rowntree 71-85 

XL Housing and Health. By Percy Alden, M.P. ... 86-95 

XII. The Land and Agriculture. By the Rt. Hon. 

F. D. Acland, M.P 96 ~" 

XIII. Temperance Reform. By Charles Roberts, M.P. 100—105 

XIV. Education. By Lord Sheffield 106—110 

XV. Liberal Preparedness for War. By the Rt. 

Hon. Harold Baker, M.P 111—118 

XVI. Scottish Topics. By Sir Edward Parrott, M.P. 119-126 



17-23 

24—28 



I.— THE WAR AND THE PEACE. 

By the Right Hon. Herbert Samuel, M.P. 

[The reader should bear in mind that this article was written just before the 
conclusion of the armistice with Germany. ,] 



Liberalism and the War. 

The purposes for which the Allies have been fighting in the 
war have made a powerful appeal to British Liberalism. They are, indeed, 
identical with principles which lie at the root of Liberal policy. Detesting 
war, rejecting the sinister doctrine that war is to be welcomed for the sake 
of the glory it may bring and the heroic qualities it evokes, holding passion- 
ately to the opposite doctrine that, on balance, war is a most evil thing, 
Liberals, not only in this country but almost throughout the world, have 
nevertheless thrown themselves whole-heartedly into this conflict. It is 
because they recognise that peace must rest on respect for international 
law; that international law exists only by virtue of the observance of 
treaties ; that if one State openly flouts its treaty obligations and neverthe- 
less prospers, the whole foundation of international amity is undermined 
and the edifice itself must sooner or later collapse ; that the march of the 
German armies through Belgium was clearly such a case ; and that, if it 
had been rewarded by success, it must have established the cynical doctrine of 
contempt for moral obligations and the supremacy of force as the dominant 
principle in the government of the world. It is because they recognise that 
militarism, whether on any particular occasion it respects treaties or not, 
is the irreconcilable enemy of the peaceful progress of peoples ; that mili- 
tarism is infectious ; enthroned in one State it cannot fail to spread to 
neighbouring States, on account of their instinct of self-preservation ; that 
Prussia was the organised expression of militarism in the modern world ; 
and that if its fourth aggressive war resulted in the same triumph, but on a 
vaster scale, as the three previous aggressive wars it had waged in the last 
half century, the future of Europe was dark indeed. 

As the conflict developed, and under the influence of the overthrow of 
Tsardom in Russia and of the entry of the United States, these underlying 
ideas came into clearer light. It became evident also that now, at last, 
there was a prospect of establishing in its completeness, as the one guiding 
rule in settling the map of Europe, that principle of nationality which, for 
a hundred years, had been the foundation of Liberal policy in international 
affairs. " Civil and religious liberty all over the world " was the old Whig 
maxim. The new and clumsy phrase " Self-determination of Peoples ", in- 
scribed upon the banners of the Russian Revolution and widely accepted, 
was nothing but the old Liberal principle, " National Liberty ", writ large. 
It was seen that the same motives which led our Liberal forebears to support 
with enthusiasm the struggles of the Greeks to free themselves from Turkish 



8 LIBERAL POLICY. 

control, of the other Balkan peoples to eseape from the same tyranny, of the 
Italians in the risorgimento, and of the Hungarians, under Kossuth, against 
the Austrians, must lead us in our day to give the same support to the 
Alsatians, the Southern Slavs, the Czechs and Slovenes, the Poles, the unre- 
deemed Italians and Roumanians, the Armenians, the Arabs, in their efforts 
to escape from the domination of German, Magyar and Turk. 

Security for the Future. 

Still later, the emergence of the idea of the League of Nations into the 
foreground, through the influence, mainly, of President Wilson, finally 
displayed the essential Liberalism of the objects in view. For the League 
of Nations is nothing but the principle of International Arbitration, estab- 
lished universally, and with the addition of weapons for its own enforcement ; 
and the principle of International Arbitration has been a Liberal doctrine, 
promoted in the face often of derision and sometimes of passionate hostility, 
ever since the days of Gladstone and the Alabama Treaty. And the idea 
of the League of Nations is itself intimately connected with the principle of 
nationality. It will be the essential purpose of the League to keep the 
peace. On what basis is the peace to be kept ? On a basis of wrong ? On 
the basis that people of one nationality are to be kept subject — by force — 
against their declared will — to the people of another ? On such conditions the 
task that would face the councils of the League would be an impossible one. 
The League itself would be little better than the miscalled Holy Alliance of a 
century ago, which sought to establish a reign of peace on the basis of the 
then existing boundaries of States, although the existing boundaries of States 
did not themselves rest on a basis of justice. It has been well said that 
" Internationalism depends on satisfied nationalism." 

So we arrive at a chain of ideas which has no break. If we wish for 
a permanent peace, we must establish the League of Nations. The League 
cannot be established with a fair prospect of success if it finds Europe with its 
problems of frontiers still unsolved. Those problems can only be finally 
settled on the principle of national liberty, Such a settlement involves the 
overthrow of German, Austrian and Turkish domination over subject peoples, 
and that overthrow can only be accomplished by the defeat of the Central 
Powers in the war. 

In addition to all these considerations, there was, from the beginning, 
the care, common to all parties, for our own national security. A Germany, 
triumphant on the Continent, and made more than ever aggressive by the 
fact of its triumph, would have been a lasting menace to these islands. The 
United Kingdom, and all the ideas for which it stands, would have lived 
under the shadow of a constant peril. For the sake of its own defence, it 
would have been compelled to imitate, in a large degree, the militarism of 
its neighbour. Our domestic freedom would have been gravely impaired, 
and our social progress seriously retarded. 

Hating war though it does, the Liberal Party could only have held aloof 
from this conflict at the cost of sacrificing its own most cherished ideals. 
International goodwill, respect for treaties, freedom from military domination, 
the desire for the liberty of all peoples, the hopes of a new world-order based 
upon the League of Nations, our own domestic security— all these were at 
stake. All these combined to lead it to devote its energies without stint to 
promote the success of the Allied cause. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 9 

Lessons of the War. 
The nations which have best stood the test of these years of cataclysm 
are those which had been wise enough to establish democratic constitutions. 
The power of Kaiserism, and the influences that emanated from it, led Germany 
into the war, and through the war to disaster. In Austria and in Hungary 
the political systems which had been set up gave the people no effective 
control over the reckless statesmen who brought their countries to an equal 
fate. The autocracy in Russia collapsed under the strain of a prolonged 
war, with its alternation of defeats with successes ; its disappearance has left 
the country in a state of social dissolution. In so far as Greece and Bulgaria 
were under monarchical control, they were led along wrong courses and 
suffered in proportion. Venizelos, drawing his support from the masses of 
the people, redeemed the situation for Greece. 

Had France reverted to a Napoleonic regime in some moment of aber- 
ration between 1871 and 1914, who can doubt that the cruel sacrifices to 
which she was subjected in this war, the grave reverses which her armies 
sometimes suffered, would have led to political convulsions, that would have 
had a disastrous military result? She had happily kept her democracy 
unimpaired. Her institutions have stood firm. It has been the free coun- 
tries, Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, the United States, which have 
been right in the essentials of their policy, have proved themselves able to 
organise effectively for war, have shown, so far, that their institutions are 
stable, and, at the end, have emerged victorious. The system of self- 
government, to promote which is one of the prime objects of Liberalism, has 
been subjected, in Europe and America, to the most searching moral test 
and to the most violent material shock. It has been vindicated by the result. 

Experience within our own Empire points the same moral. A free 
South African Union, made possible by the grant of self-government to the 
Transvaal and the Orange Free State, has thrown itself into the conflict by 
the side of the other members of the British Commonwealth, and has con- 
tributed not only important military results, but not less important moral 
support. At the beginning of the war a reconciled Ireland, relying on a 
Home Rule Act on the statute-book, believing her political freedom to be at 
last within her grasp, sent her sons by scores of thousands to fight in the cause 
of the freedom of others. Later, a disillusioned Ireland, rightly or wrongly 
believing herself betrayed, her faith gone in the early fulfilment of the hopes 
held out to her, angry and discontented, withheld her help. The reactionary 
forces in this country have often done harm to the British Empire, from the 
days of the loss of the American Colonies up to this hour. Seldom have they 
rendered a greater disservice than in obstructing, and finally blocking, the 
path to Irish Home Rule. The direct consequence was that it had not become 
operative before the war came upon us ; the indirect consequences we now 
see. 

" All history," a distinguished historian has said, " is one long plea for 
human liberty." These years renew that plea. At the cost of how much 
blood have they enforced it ! 

The National Effort. 

A Liberal Government had been in power for eight years before the 
war. It had watched with anxiety the German threat to our naval supremacy. 



10 LIBERAL POLICY. 

To meet that threat it had proposed to Parliament increases in our Naval 
Estimates which had raised them from £33,000,000 in 1905 to £51,000,000 
in 1914, or by more than 50 per cent. In the efficiency and power of the 
fleet the increase had been even greater. It was believed that, if war came, 
the navy would be strong enough to out-match any enemy and to safeguard 
this country from invasion. And so it has proved. The German battle- 
fleet, throughout the war, has been wholly unable to keep the seas, or to 
interfere in any effective fashion with our navy's blockade, which has helped 
so powerfully to decide the issue. Not a German soldier has set foot on 
these islands except as a prisoner, and our age-long immunity from invasion 
has remained unbroken. Although we have suffered heavy depredations 
from the submarine campaign — and no-one foresaw the uses of the sub- 
marine to which the rulers of Germany, in their barbarism and desperation, 
would resort — the sea routes have been kept open for our supplies, and 
millions of soldiers, of our own and allied armies, have been successfully 
transported on every ocean. 

It is true that the Liberal Party, in common with the Unionist Party 
and the Labour Party, did not propose before the war the creation of a 
great army, based on compulsory service. The nation had never contem- 
plated embarking upon a vast campaign upon the Continent. Our task was 
taken to be the holding of the seas, and for that we were fully equipped. 
But when the war came we were able to mobilise at once over half-a-million 
men, for service abroad and for home defence. Lord Kitchener, appointed 
head of the War Office, organised a national army, and before long, at his 
call, five million volunteers had come forward from all parts of the Empire 
to take their part in the great conflict — a record of spontaneous patriotism, 
the glory of which has never been approached by any nation at this or any 
other period of the world's history. To provide the war material needed by so 
great a force, Mr. Asquith's Coalition Government established the Ministry 
of Munitions, which under the energetic guidance of Mr. Lloyd George made 
good the need. Later, as the struggle continued, and developed on an even 
vaster scale, that Government found it necessary to ask Parliament to enact 
eompulsory military service. 

What Might Have Been. 

It is often confidently asserted that if such steps had been taken in 
advance, if, before 1914, compulsory service had been made the law, and an 
army of millions created and properly equipped, there would have been no 
war. Possibly that may be. But it is possible also that Germany, alarmed 
by such preparations, might only have struck the sooner. And it is more 
than possible — in view of the traditions of our people, it is in the highest 
degree probable — that conscription, if at that time it could have been estab- 
lished at all, would have been passed into law only as the outcome of a violent 
political struggle. If the war had come nevertheless — and taking into 
account the forces at work in Germany that contingency cannot be excluded — 
our nation would have entered it torn by dissension. Large sections of the 
people would have felt convinced that the conflict was the outcome of our 
own action ; that our creation of a great army, in addition to possessing 
by far the most powerful navy, had been itself an announcement of warlike 
intentions ; that the war, in fact, was Germany's answer, and a not illegitimate 
answer, to our own militarism. Such feelings could not fail to have had their 



LIBERAL POLICY. 11 

echo throughout the Empire, and in the United States ; and we should 
have entered the great conflict with a larger army indeed, but with a less 
united nation, with fewer Iriends, and, as a consequence, in a less resolute 
spirit. 

There are some also who, looking back, blame the efforts that were 
made by the pre-war Government to cultivate friendly relations with Ger- 
many. Overtures there were, repeatedly made. Attempts to secure a 
simultaneous limitation of naval armaments ; attempts to settle out-standing 
colonial questions ; attempts to create a more friendly atmosphere. But 
they are short-sighted indeed who would have had our policy different. 
Those efforts, sincerely made, have been one of the foundations of our 
moral position. Their rejection, for the most part, by Germany has helped to 
show the whole world at whose door lies the guilt of the conflict. Followed 
as they were at the hour of crisis by energetic efforts, equally sincere, to 
settle the particular quarrel that had become acute, they have satisfied 
the conscience of our own people and cleared the issue for America. Better 
to have offered the hand of friendship and been repulsed, than to share the 
responsibility for fomenting ill-will. The pre-war policy towards Germany 
of Mr. Asquith and Sir Edward Grey, vindicated as it has since been by the 
then German Ambassador himself, has proved a powerful factor in establish- 
ing the moral strength, and so in ensuring the success, of the allied cause. 

Liberal Policy Justified. 

In two other respects the Liberal policy which prevailed before the 
war has been justified in the hour of test. Free Trade had enabled these 
small islands, possessing no vast natural resources, to accumulate so great a 
store of wealth, that they were able to finance, year after year, not only our 
own immense war expenditure, but to a large extent the efforts of all our 
Protectionist allies. And Free Trade had enabled them to create 
so large a mercantile marine — nearly half the merchant shipping of the 
world — that the transport of armies and of supplies, together with the pro- 
vision of the immense tonnage needed for the auxiliary services of the navy, 
could be undertaken, not indeed without strain, especially since the destruction 
by submarines, but at least on a scale sufficient for our more vital needs. If 
British shipping had been half what it was, what would have been the 
course of the war ? 

The Conduct of Affairs at Home. 

Our economic system bore with success the shock of the outbreak of 
war. The arrangements made by the Government to help our financial 
institutions through the crisis served their purpose. The dislocation of 
industries was overcome. The taxation of the country was placed on a war 
footing with surprising ease. Politically also, the unity of the nation was 
maintained. 

But after nine months of war it was made clear that that unity could 
not be fully preserved unless the Government was reconstructed on the 
basis of a coalition of parties. The change was unhesitatingly made. A 
small War Committee of the Cabinet was entrusted with the day by day 
conduct of mliitary, naval and diplomatic affairs, free from the delay involved 
by reference to the large Cabinet of twenty-three. At the beginning of 1916 



12 LIBERAL POLICY. 

the time came when compulsory military service was necessary. Until then 
the number of volunteers had been in advance of the equipment that could 
be provided for them. If earlier compulsion had furnished a larger supply 
of men, they could not have been effectively used. At the right moment the 
new system was adopted and enforced, with a minimum of friction and 
with almost a complete absence of controversy. 

At the close of that year came the change of Administration. The Liberal 
members of the Lords and Commons met at the Reform Club and unanimously 
expressed their resolve to support the new Government in the effective 
prosecution of the War. The terms of the resolution were as follows : — 

" That this meeting records its thanks to Mr- Asquith for his long 
and magnificent services to the Nation, its unabated confidence in him 
as Leader of the Liberal. Party, and its determination to give support 
to the King's Government engaged in the effective prosecution of the 
War." 

That promise has been scrupulously fulfilled, and no Government has received 
such unswerving support as has been extended by the responsible leaders of 
the Liberal Party in Parliament and the main body of their followers, to 
every measure of the present Administration calculated to assist the progress 
of the war. 

House of Commons Criticism. 

Criticism there has been from time to time. The House of Commons 
would be doing less than its duty if it did not subject the Government in 
office to reasonable and well-informed criticism. Every Government needs 
it, and every Government is the better for it. In particular, the mis-handling 
of the question of man-power during the critical year 1917, owing to the 
ill-conceived scheme of National Service Volunteers ; the failure of the 
measures for dealing with the food situation prior to the appointment of 
Lord Rhondda ; the frequent changes in the control of merchant ship-building 
and the slowness of the completion of new tonnage ; the delays in dealing 
with important matters of home legislation and administration owing to the 
concentration of work in the hands of the small War Cabinet ; the unhappy 
treatment of many Labour questions ; the error of policy in attempting to 
impose conscription upon Ireland while withholding political freedom, a step 
which has caused profound disturbance among the Irish people while it has 
added nothing to our military strength ; the wasteful expenditure of money 
by many of the Departments of State, and the insufficiency of Treasury 
control ; the multiplication of new offices, till the Government has come to 
consist of over ninety members ; the inadequate measures for the protection 
of our prisoners abroad from ill-usage ; the recognition of the necessity of 
an inquiry into the allegations of General Maurice, the Director of Military 
Operations, as to the measures taken prior to our reverses on the Western 
Front in March, 1918, followed at once by the refusal of ail inquiry ; the 
retention in the United Kingdom, until after those reverses, of 300,000 troops, 
who might have saved the situation had they been at Sir Douglas Haig's 
disposal beforehand ; — all these were grounds for legitimate Parliamentary 
criticism. With regard to some of these matters, the criticism, when not 
too late, resulted in useful changes. 

For the rest, to the many vigorous and effective measures taken by the 
present Government, as by its predecessors, to promote the success of our 



LIBERAL POLICY. 13 

arms and those of our allies, the Liberal Party in Parliament gave its contin- 
uous support. In the country the attitude was the same ; and when the 
National Liberal Federation met at Manchester in September, 1918, its first 
action was to declare unanimously that it was " the paramount duty of all 
good citizens, without distinction of party and subordinating for the time 
all other purposes, to support with every necessary effort and sacrifice the 
effective prosecution of the War until a just and lasting Peace is assured." 

An End of War. 

In the settlement of the terms of peace allied statesmanship will have 
to consider the consequences of the past, the needs of the present, the 
foundations of the future. It is essential to secure reparation, so far as 
reparation is possible, for the almost immeasureable evil done by the aggres- 
sion of the Central Powers. It would be wrong that the great crimes com- 
mitted during the war itself should go unpunished. The pressing needs of 
the peoples for food and materials have to be met. These are matters of 
urgent importance. But more important still is the planning and the build- 
ing of the world that is to come after. 

Among the masses of the people in every war-worn country there is an 
intense desire that the catastrophe of these years shall not be repeated. 
" Prevent that above all," such is their mandate to their spokesmen. Unless 
statesmanship can ensure that, it will have disastrously failed. Any leader 
of any party in any country, who does not bend his energies to that great 
purpose, is not merely useless ; he is harmful. By that test the leaders of 
the nations will be judged. 

British Liberalism is devoted whole-heartedly to the attainment of this 
goal. It seeks to eliminate the causes which have led to the present war 
and to avoid the creation of fresh causes that might lead to others. The 
destruction of the European autocracies will have removed one of the chief 
of the factors predisposing to war. If the map of Europe is re-settled on 
the lines, so far as possible, of nationality, a second will have disappeared. 
Let us not be so criminal as to replace these ancient sources of quarrel, 
abolished at the cost of such bitter sacrifice, by any new one. An economic 
boycott would be such a source. 

Once let it be made plain thai the military system in Germany has been 
definitely overthrown, that the rest of the world is no longer compelled, for 
the sake of its own protection, to employ any and every means to keep down 
the vitality of the Central Powers, and there can be no justification for the 
denial of raw materials for their industries and of markets for the products 
of their labour. There cannot be a lasting peace upon that basis. It is not 
in accordance with justice that seventy or a hundred millions of people, 
intelligent and industrious, should be reduced, by the deliberate action of 
the rest of mankind, to the lowest level of subsistence. 

A Clean Peace. 

Nor would they tolerate it. Whatever the position may be at this 
moment, and during the years immediately following the war, such an 
attempt must in time bring its reaction. It has been wisely said that our 
peace terms must be stern enough to establish the overthrow of Prussian 
militarism, but not so stern as to ensure its revival. 



14 LIBERAL POLICY. 

In allocating the supplies of raw materials available on the conclusion of 
peace, the country which has done its utmost to destroy every merchant 
ship that sailed the sea is obviously not entitled to any pricr use cf the 
tonnage that has escaped or has been built in replacement. But any arrange- 
ments that sought to keep German industry at a permanently low level by 
controlling the sources of supply of raw materials from the tropical and 
sub-tropical parts of the globe, and by denying their use, would inevitably 
sow the seeds of a war of revenge. And it would be a war of revenge which 
would make a powerful appeal to moral forces, both in Central Europe and 
elsewhere. 

If thirty or fifty years hence, it proved that all our present efforts to 
secure the self-government of peoples, territorial justice, the settlement of 
disputes by a League of Nations, did not succeed in preventing another war 
initiated by Germany, that would indeed be a calamity. The next genera- 
tion would have to endure it, as our generation has endured this war. But 
if thirty or fifty years hence there were to be another war, initiated by Ger- 
many on account of injustice in the settlement made now, a war in which 
Germany was in the right, that could not be endured. That would be a 
disaster for which our children could never forgive us. 

" The future is hidden even from those who make it," says Anatole 
France. Who can foretell what will be the distant outcome of the great events 
that are now occurring ? But at least let us abstain from the folly of allow- 
ing feelings of anger and resentment, natural as they are, to lead us to invite 
dangers that can plainly be foreseen. The peace, as Mr. Asquith has repea- 
tedly urged, must be " a clean peace." British Liberalism subscribes to 
President Wilson's principle that " there can be no employment of any form 
of economic boycott or exclusion, except as the power of economic penalty, 
by exclusion from the markets of the world, may be vested in the League of 
Nations itself, as a means of discipline and control." 

The League of Nations. 

Use the economic boycott in advance, and a League of Nations would 
be deprived of its chief weapon. It would be left with no penalty to impose 
on a recalcitrant State as an alternative to armed attack ; and to obviate 
armed conflict is to be the chief purpose of its being. 

And it is in such a League, with effective powers, that the democracies 
see the best hope of realising their passionate longing for the abolition of 
war. More vividly than ever before, the peoples realise the waste and 
futility of war, as well as its cruelty ; the sheer stupidity of it ; its offence, 
not only to morals, but to reason. That the parties who might otherwise 
fight each other should come together to provide other means for settling 
any disagreements that may occur, seems the most obvious common-sense. 
And so it is. But human beings are so perverse, old practices are so deep- 
rooted, that the fulfilment of even the most obvious dictates of common- 
sense is often not achieved without prolonged and intense effort. Particu- 
larly is that so in a case such as this, where the practical application of an 
accepted principle is attended by difficulties numerous and complex. 

The purposes of a League are generally agreed to be, first, the establish- 
ment of a Court, to which can be referred those international disputes that 



LIBERAL POLICY. 15 

fall within the domain of law; secondly, the creation of a machinery of 
conciliation and arbitration which can be invoked in all other disputes; 
thirdly, the attainment of a general limitation of armaments ; and, fourthly, 
the provision of the means of enforcing, in case of need, its own decisions. 
To these, other functions may or may not be added ; for example, the exercise 
of suzerainty over territories that cannot for good reason be allotted to 
any individual Power. 

Each of these subjects presents its own problems. This is not the place 
n which to embark upon their examination. I desire to refer to only two 
points, the one not always sufficiently emphasised, perhaps, by the advocates 
of the League, the other relating to an objection by its critics. 

If there is to be a limitation of armaments, and a change of international 
law with regard to warfare at sea, the limitation must be universal and the 
change must not leave the British Empire defenceless, if the League, through 
events that are unforeseen, should prove in fact unable to achieve the per- 
manent peace which it seeks to promote. It should be clear beyond possi- 
bility of doubt, that if " the world is to be made safe for democracy," it must 
be made safe for the British democracy among the rest. 

National Sovereignty. 

The chief objection of the critics is to the limitation of independent 
sovereignty involved by membership of the League. Each State would no 
longer, it is said, be able to decide its policy wholly at its own will. And it 
is true that membership of the League would impose limitations. Every 
treaty of international arbitration, however, limits independence, just as 
subjection to the law limits the independence of the individual, to his own 
advantage, in common with that of the rest of the community. But there 
is a further answer, which to some minds may make a stronger appeal. Was 
our sovereignty, after all, so absolute ? Were we able, as a matter of fact, to 
conduct our policy at our own will ? Was it at our own desire that year by 
year we paid heavier and heavier taxation in order to increase our naval 
armaments? Was it because we thought it in itself a good thing that, 
during the last four-and-a-half years, we have sacrificed the lives of hundreds 
of thousands of our young men, the limbs, the health, the sight of 
hundreds of thousands more, and wealth almost beyond counting? And 
if no League of Nations is established, and the world is left to its former 
anarchy ; if the consequence is that conscription is made universal, that 
armaments are piled up in ever-increasing measure, that taxation for 
military purposes exceeds even its present dimensions, and that the 
nations live in peril of an always threatening conflict, more intense and 
destructive even than this has been — would that be freedom? Would 
that be the conduct of policy at our own will ? It is not in such conditions 
that a true sovereignty resides. 

If by an equal subjection with our neighbours to some measure of con- 
trol at the hands of an authority jointly established, we can escape that 
coercion, our liberty, on balance, would not be restricted but vastly enlarged. 
We would join in a world-government which will help us to live our lives 
as we would, instead of lying at the mercy of a world-anarchy, the effects of 
which would be more destructive of freedom than the most despotic domestic 
tyranny which history records. 



16 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Difficulties in establishing and in administering a League of Nations 
unquestionably there are, most formidable difficulties. They must be 
overcome. For the difficulties that will face mankind if there is no League 
of Nations will be far more formidable still. In its creation, coupled, as it 
must be, with the control of Parliaments over treaties, lies the chief hope of a 
lasting peace. And it is only if peace is secure that the peoples can devote 
their thoughts, their energies, their resources, to rescue themselves from 
the poverty, the evil environment, the limitations of mind and body, which 
stunt the lives of multitudes among them. Since the abiding work of 
Liberalism is the promotion of social progress, a Liberal Party must needs 
be a party of Peace. 



■ 



II.— LIBERALISM AND A LEAGUE OF 
NATIONS. 

By The Rt. Hon. Sir Willoughby H. Dickinson, 

K.B.E., M.P. 



The institution of a League of Nations for the maintenance of inter- 
national right and the preservation of peace is no more than the application 
of Liberalism to world politics. In domestic matters Liberalism betokens 
the correlation of the principles of Liberty, Justice and Fellowship. Our 
civilised communities have adjusted their relationships so as to recognise 
the freedom of the individual to live his own life provided that he does not 
harm his neighbour, and have organised methods of common action by which 
the good of all is safe-guarded and advanced. Whilst interfering as little 
as possible with individual liberty, they have set up courts to administer justice 
and to carry into effect the laws that mankind makes for its own protection ; 
and, further, they have instituted representative assemblies by whom the 
wants of the community may be ascertained and supplied in an effective and 
peaceful manner. 

International Anarchy. 

It has not been so with international affairs. Hitherto we have had no 
international law in the sense of rules of conduct that must be observed and 
can be enforced. We have had numerous books compiled by lawyers and 
ecclesiastics who have laboured to provide the nations with a code of inter- 
national jurisprudence; and we have had treaties, by which nations have 
placed themselves under obligations towards each other; but the former 
have been merely pious opinions and the latter only voluntary agreements 
possessing no binding effect beyond that which could be secured through a 
sense of honour between governments. The world has been really living in 
a state of international anarchy, much as in the early mining camps, where 
every man was a law unto himself, and the dread of lynching was the only 
deterrent that operated to restrain defaulters. If international life is to be 
rescued from this anarchy, it must be through the gradual acceptance of laws, 
the recognition of international justice, and the general consent and collab- 
oration of the peoples of the world. 

These results might be brought about by the union of States into a single 
federation, as has been the case with the United States of America, or the 
German federal empire, or the British aggregation of commonwealths. But 
if either of these examples is followed, it entails the establishment of a federal 
government and a world Executive for which it is extremely doubtful whether 



18 LIBERAL POLICY. 

mankind is ready at this moment. It would also involve considerable limita- 
tion of the individual liberties of existing states, and this interference with 
national sovereignty would render it difficult, and perhaps impossible, to 
induce the governments of these states to enter into any such federation. 

Those, therefore, who advoeate a League of Nations have deemed it 
wiser to proceed in a more tentative way by accepting existing conditions 
as far as possible and merely supplying what is immediately necessary in 
order to bring some kind of order out of the anarchy that now prevails. In 
order to effect this, we must construct machinery and supply power to work 
it. Both are indispensable. The former must provide means whereby the 
peoples of the world can, through their representatives, meet to discuss and 
adjust the affairs of the worid. The latter must inspire the people to see to 
it that their representatives labour uniformly for the common good and not 
for the interests of their particular country or race. 

International Co-operation. 

Thus, the first thing to be done is to bring together a representative con- 
gress and to agree upon the powers of that assembly. In considering this 
question it will be all-important to avoid undue interference with the domestic 
concerns of any state. The object of the congress will be to establish inter- 
national order and not to pry into national troubles so long as they do not 
endanger the general peace. A League of Nations based upon Liberal principles 
must put in the forefront of its policy the recognition of state rights and the 
claim of every free people to regulate their own home affairs. 

International Justice. 

Secondly, the League must create and enthrone international justice 
in'sueh a manner as will command the confidence of mankind, since confidence 
can only flourish in an atmosphere where justice is supreme. Next to that 
of the divine law the sense of justice as between man and man is perhaps 
the most universal in the human breast. The great Roman Empire and 
the still greater British Empire have held their sway over men of all races 
and degrees of culture through the simple fact that they have personified and 
secured justice. When once we have set up a world Court of judges recog- 
nising that their responsibility is a responsibility only to the world and to 
their own conscience, we may expect a change in the whole attitude of the 
human race towards internationalism. When it is known that there is in 
existence some method other than the sword by which the nations may settle 
their disputes, then the great mass of people will readily resort thereto. A 
representative Congress and a Supreme Court will at any rate supply some 
effective machinery for securing the peace. 

International Conciliation. 

But, in this organisation, there must be also some place for conciliation. 
A Court of Justice can only administer law, and there is much in private and 
in international life that generates troubles which cannot be settled by law. 
Wars, like disease, often start in some small sore that is allowed to fester 
until it becomes fatal. Early treatment by men of experience and wisdom 
would have done much to remove the evils that have led to recent conflicts. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 19 

The League of Nations will therefore have to add to its machinery some per- 
manent body who can be called upon to mediate in and adjust differences 
before they become a menace to peace. For this reason the schemes that 
have been promulgated both in this country and in America contemplate a 
Council of Conciliation as an essential part of the organisation of a League. 
An international machinery so completed may not of itself ensure the world 
from war, but it will provide a means whereby the people of the world if they 
wish for peace can have it. All will, however, depend upon the spirit that 
actuates mankind. At the close of this war there may be a great revival of 
nationalism. Small states that have hitherto been subject to the greater 
Powers, will probably on entering upon their heritage of freedom, desire to 
assert their independence and their sovereign rights; but on the other hand 
the general sentiment of humanity will insist upon preventing the exercise 
of those rights from plunging the world into another cataclysm similar to 
that from which it is now emerging. Those who are striving to create a 
League of Nations to abolish war, must do their utmost to fan into a living 
and lasting flame the desire for peace among all the peoples of the globe. For 
it will not be possible either to build up a League of Nations or to maintain 
it when once erected unless at the bottom of the human heart there lies the 
love of peace and a real longing for universal brotherhood. Let us, therefore, 
see how we can best prepare the ground for the healthy and rapid growth of 
this international spirit upon which the very existence of civilisation will 
depend. 

Plan of a League of Nations. 

Various schemes have been prepared for the creation of a League of 
Nations. The two that have attracted most attention are the 'plans of the 
British League of Nations Society and of the American League to Enforce 
Peace. Both these societies were formed in the early months of the war and 
since then have worked in close consultation with one another. Both are 
based on the principle that there should be a treaty made between the states 
of the world, or as many as are willing to join, by which each state will bind 
itself to resort in the first instance to peaceful methods for settling any dispute 
in which it is involved with another member of the League, and by which all 
the states will undertake to unite their forces against any member that departs 
from this contract. By this means, if any state takes up arms against another 
before the question at issue has been made the subject of peaceful enquiry 
that state will at once find itself opposed by all the other states of the League 
who would-bring against it their combined powers of diplomatic and economic 
pressure and, if necessary, military force. In order that such a League should 
be effective it is advisable that it should include as large a number of the states 
of the world as possible. And this for two reasons. Firstly, the aggregate 
forces that could then be used against a defaulter would be practically irresis- 
tible, and, secondly, the bringing into the League of nations that are likely to 
disturb the peace would subject them to restraint to an extent that would be 
impracticable were they to remain outside. It is essential that the League's 
power of keeping the peace should operate over as large a field as possible. 

The plan of the League of Nations Society goes beyond that of the American 
Society in that it proposes that the League should guarantee its members not 
only against disturbance inside the League but against attack from any state 
that has stayed outside. Some people object to this on the ground that the 



20 LIBERAL POLICY. 

League would have enough to do to attend to its own affairs ; but, on the 
other hand, it is urged by those who support the British scheme that the 
protection so offered will tend to bring into the League smaller nations who might 
otherwise be fearful of attack from some powerful outside neighbour. More- 
over it is hoped that in due course the security offered to its members by the 
League will bring about a diminution in armaments and this object would 
not be so easily attained if each state found itself compelled to maintain its 
own forces in order to meet possible aggression on the part of some outsider. 

Methods of Settlement. 

The methods of peaceful settlement suggested by the British Society are 
as follows. The League would possess four principal organs (1) A Supreme 
Court ; (2) A Council of Conciliation ; (3) A Conference and (4) An Adminis- 
trative Committee. Each of these organs would possess distinct functions, 
but the main object of all would be to secure justice and to reduce the possi- 
bilities of war. The constitution of these bodies is a question of the utmost 
difficulty by reason of varying conditions in the different states of the world. 
There are over 50 states which are regarded as sovereign states. Their popula- 
tions vary from one million to over four hundred millions. In wealth, 
civilisation, historical associations and national character they differ enor- 
mously, and when we come to decide what degree of weight is to be given to 
each state in any international organisation we find ourselves up against a 
problem that has puzzled the Hague Conferences and almost every other 
assembly that has tried to deal with this subject. Some people suggest that 
every state should have the same representation on the central body. Others 
have argued that representation should vary according to population or 
according to wealth or civilisation or a combination of these factors. The 
solution of the question, however, depends largely upon the functions of the 
central body that it is proposed to institute. The Court of Justice is to be a 
body of judges whose duty it is to administer international lav/ impartially 
amongst all nations. It must be a small body and therefore it cannot in any 
case include representatives from every state, nor is there any necessity for 
this. Judges in our own country are not selected because of their connection 
with a particular district, or a particular class of the community, nor in the 
United States is the judge of the Supreme Court allocated to the particular 
state from which he has sprung. Such judges are chosen to administer 
justice without fear or favour, and as a rule they rise to this sense of 
responsibility and cast aside all local and racial predilections. 

This will be the case with a world court when it is established. A judge 
will be selected not because he is an Englishman or a Frenchman or a Brazilian, 
but because his attainments and high character have singled him out as suitable 
for the position. Thus, the only question that will arise in this connection 
will be the person or persons in whom is to be vested the power of appointment. 
The scheme of the British Society proposes that the judges shall be appointed 
by an assembly of representatives from all nations. It is anticipated in most 
cases that this assembly, consisting, as it would, of men of the highest standing 
in every country, would be able to choose the judges by agreement amongst 
themselves, but in the event of an election becoming necessary it would be 
conducted by the method of proportional voting so as to ensure to the smaller 
states some voice in the selection. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 21 

A Council of Conciliation. 

The second organ of the League that is suggested by both the British and 
American societies is a Council of Conciliation. This proposition is based 
upon the existing Anglo-American treaties which were fully discussed in the 
years prior to the war and were accepted as the utmost point to which two 
powerful and free nations would go in agreeing to subject their disputes to 
peaceful settlement. A long time ago America and England had agreed that 
all differences that were capable of judicial treatment should be referred to the 
Hague Court of Arbitration, but there were excluded from this provision 
matters of dispute involving honour or vital interests. During the period that 
Mr. Taft held the Presidency and Lord Bryce was British Ambassador, the 
question of extending the former treaty so as to embrace the more vital issues 
was a subject of debate between the respective governments and in the United 
States Congress, and ultimately it was decided that the two nations would 
undertake that they would not go to war against each other in any case until 
an opportunity had been given for thorough investigation into the matter in 
dispute ; and accordingly they have now signed a treaty by which a permanent 
commission of five persons is set up who will investigate and report upon all 
differences of a non-justiciable character which may arise between them, and 
the governments of the two countries have undertaken to abstain from all acts 
of hostility until such enquiry and report are completed. 

It is suggested that this method of settlement should be adopted by the 
states constituting the League of Nations. Every state will enter into a similar 
undertaking with each other that they will not fight until the matter has been 
properly investigated. If a state departs from this undertaking then the other 
members of the League will interfere to restrain it. For the purpose of the 
necessary enquiry the states will set up a Council of Conciliation. The Council 
will consist of one representative from each state, since in this case there is not 
the same need for limitation of numbers as exists in respect to the Supreme 
Court. Moreover, it is not intended that the Council should give binding 
decisions. Its duty will be to mediate between the litigants and if possible to 
bring about some arrangement that will settle the dispute, and if this is not 
possible, to issue a report upon the facts of the case so that all people may know 
which party should be supported in the event of war. 

A Representative Conference. 

The third organ of the League is a Representative Conference. It will be 
a larger body than either of the others and must be based upon some roughly 
representative system. It is difficult to lay down the exact conditions which 
would justify a larger or a smaller representation upon this body, but the 
scheme of the League of Nations Society suggests that one member should be 
returned for every state having a population less than twenty millions, three 
members by states having a population between twenty and fifty millions, five 
members when the population is between fifty and one hundred millions and 
seven members for states of over one hundred millions. By this means the 
small nations will find that they have a considerable influence on the proposed 
representative conference, whilst the larger states will command sufficient 
power to prevent the risk of being overwhelmed by a large number of less 
populous countries. 



22 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Powers of the Conference. 

It is difficult|and indeed inadvisable to attempt to define too accurately 
the powers that the Conference will exercise. Much will depend upon the 
extent to which that assembly succeeds in commanding the respect of the 
world, and for this reason it will be well at the outset not to attempt to give it 
more work than it could properly perform. Care must also be taken to avoid 
any risk of the constituent states of the League regarding the Conference as 
being a body desirous of interfering in their domestic concerns or of altering 
their customs and laws. The League of Nations, as we contemplate it, is to 
be a League of sovereign states bound together for the preservation of inter- 
national peace and for the adjustment of international affairs. Amongst 
these matters stands out prominently the necessity for the re-establishment of 
international law. The war has very largely destroyed all the conventions and 
treaties upon which this law has hitherto been based, and it will be necessary to 
revise, codify and agree to a new system of international jurisprudence. The 
Conference will be charged with the duty of preparing such laws ; but it is not 
suggested by the present scheme that actual legislative power should be forthwith 
conferred upon the Conference. International law must rest upon the consent 
of all the states concerned, and it is therefore proposed that this consent shall 
in every case be either obtained or presumed. 

The function of the Conference will be to lay before each government the 
results of their deliberations in the shape of international statutes. These 
statutes would be presented to the government of each state and will in future 
be binding upon that state unless it refuses to agree to it. Under these con- 
ditions it may be that a few states remain outside the provisions of certain 
international laws ; but this is not likely to be permanent in regard to any 
legislation upon which the Conference is generally agreed. Even if this system 
does not provide a complete machinery for international legislation, it will 
be a great improvement upon anything that has gone before, and if goodwill 
characterises the efforts of all nations in the League it ought to result in the 
passing of effective and permanent international law. 

Control of Treaties. 

Another most important function of the Conference would be the exam- 
ination and discussion of treaties made between the members of the League or 
between members of the League and outside states. It is evident that secret 
agreements would be quite inconsistent with the whole idea of international 
partnership. Members of the League will of course be free to enter into agree- 
ments with their neighbours in such form as they think best, provided that 
those agreements are not inimical to the interests of the whole community of 
nations. So long as this is so the Conference of the League will have no 
right to interfere ; but it will be entitled to demand full information as to the 
particulars of agreements ; and the universal publication of the treaties which 
will ensue from this arrangement will be of the utmost value to the 
peace of the world. The existence of such international organisation would 
tend to put an end to much of the secret diplomacy that has hitherto been largely 
responsible for international suspicion and disagreement. In fact, the periodical 
meeting of the Conference would probably be made use of for the purpose of 
diplomatic communications by much more open and honourable methods 
than those which have prevailed in the past. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 23 

General Subjects. 
There will, of course, be many other subjects of international concern to 
which the Conference will have to devote its attention. Questions of universal 
postage, world transport, shipping facilities,navigation laws, health, immigration 
and such like would all come for settlement before the Conference or its Com- 
mittees. Difficulties arising in connection with frontiers, racial conditions, 
etc., might also be discussed and dealt with in this manner. Probably the 
whole subject of international disarmament, which must inevitably be con- 
sidered, when this war draws to a close, will be treated in the first instance under 
general rules agreed to by the Conference and carried into execution by the 
separate governments or by some standing international commissions set up 
for the purpose. Thus, even though the functions of the Conference be limited, 
there will be plenty of work for it to accomplish and as it proves its usefulness 
and suitability for international administration it will gradually grow in power 
and may ultimately develop into a real system of world government. 

An Administrative Committee. 
There remains one other organ of the League to be described. In the 
British scheme it goes by the name of the Administrative Committee. The 
Americans prefer to call it the Executive ; but whatever be its title it will be a 
small permanent body appointed by the representative Conference and charged 
with very important duties. It will conduct the business of the League and 
will prepare for its meetings and collect all necessary information. It will 
provide the machinery whereby when the Conference has adopted a scheme 
for general reduction in armaments this could only be accomplished. 
This Administrative Committee will be permanently established, will have 
its place at the seat of the League and will probably be in constant 
correspondence with the diplomatic representatives accredited to that 
particular country. It will form a fink between the League as a whole 
and the governments that constitute the League. Its Chairman and Vice- 
Chairman will be men of world reputation and on their ability to deal with the 
various states will depend the success or non-success of the League. 

Conclusion. 
The above is a short summary of the system by which it is thought possible 
to build up a world organisation that will prevent the recurrence of war as 
far as it is humanly possible; but as already stated the machinery will be in- 
effective without the power that will flow from the wishes of the peoples them- 
selves. A League of Nations for the maintenance of international justice 
and the preservation of permanent peace can only consist of nations who 
love justice and desire peace. It is to be hoped that the lessons of this war 
will have brought the peoples of the world into a frame of mind in which 
they will welcome the establishment of the League and do all in their power 
to make it effective. 



III.-DISCHARGED SAILORS' & SOLDIERS 

RIGHTS. 

By J. M. Hogge, M.P. 



That this Conference pledge themselves to secure that our sailors 
and soldiers shall have the first claim upon the consideration of Parliament 
as they already have upon the gratitude of the nation ; that none of 
those who have served in the national forces shall be allowed to fall 
mto distress, either from lack of employment or from any other defect 
in our social organisation; that those who have been incapacitated 
tram following their old occupations shall be freely assisted to train them- 
selves for new employments, and shall be further assisted by the State 
in every practicable way to establish themselves in business or as wage 
earners ; that the pensions from the State to disabled men and to widows 
and children shall be a statutory right and sufficient in amount to secure 
a satisfactory standard of comfort ; that the pensions fund sh-11 be 
generously and sympathetically administered, and that there shall be 
set up immediately for Scotland a separate Ministry with a separate 
Special Grants Committee." 

In similar phraseology the National Federation at Manchester expressed 
itself unanimously. The reason I quote the above resolution passed in 
Glasgow at the Scottish Federation is on account of its reference to a separate 
Committee for Scotland, a reform necessary not only for Scotland but for 
England, Ireland and Wales. 

The Claims of the Men upon the State. 

v,rJ\ e r ,f °!. Uti0n aff ° rdS a naturaI and simpIe division of a g^at subject. 
First of all, it asserts the claim that discharged and demobilised men have 
upon the State. It is given priority of place. This is only right. We 
talk a great deal about Reconstruction. Many appear to think that it is 
the Open Sesame" to everything that is now necessary. In my view it 
is premature to talk of Reconstruction. This war has deposited on the 
tnreshold of every door opening into reform the debris of a great war It 
certainly has placed the duty of carrying the disabled, the widow, the father- 
less and the orphan on the shoulders of the Nation. Now, before we begin to 
deal with any other problem we must face this one. No adjustment of 
social, economic or industrial conditions has any real chance of success if 
we have a dissatisfied army of men watching our new State builders at work 



LIBERAL POLICY. 25 

On the creation of new undertakings. We cannot afford to have a crowd 
of disgruntled spectators. The men who have served, whatever their con- 
dition, must participate in any new efforts. We cannot tell men that they 
have saved the Empire and refuse to save them. Men cannot live on 
gratitude. They must have it translated into care, treatment, training, 
employment. They must feel that justice has been dealt out to them, that 
we have done the only and the right thing by them. Thus they must have 
first place in the mind and purpose of any new Government. They must 
be the preamble to our great new Bill of National Reconstruction. 

Perils of Demobilisation. 

Second, the resolution insists that the returned man must not become 
the victim of defects in our Social organisation. In the days of recruiting 
we harped on the phrase " Never again." We were conscious of the neglect 
of the past. We recalled with shame that our men who had served before 
found their way into the workhouses — sometimes on to the kerbstone of the 
street to ply an itinerant trade. We promised ourselves that in the future 
we should avoid a repetition of our deficiencies. To achieve that we must 
guarantee to every man who is prepared to play the game security against 
the handicap war has placed him in. Man lives by work. He risks his life 
in war. The man who has survived the risk must be provided for. Obviously 
different men are situated differently. The disabled man cannot do the 
same work with the same ability as before. The demobilised man can if he 
can get it. Demobilisation brings with it many perils, chief among which 
is faulty and inefficient machinery. With the best intentions in the world 
schemes for demobilisation may fail if our machinery does not run smoothly. 
Any or every hiatus in our arrangements may suspend the man in short or 
long periods where apparent neglect may leave him stranded. It is therefore 
imperative that the best brains must be set to devising our schemes, and when 
devised it is more than imperative that the finest organising talent in the 
country should devote its time to carrying them through. We must be 
prepared to spare neither effort nor money to make our schemes successful. 
We are dealing with men who remember the ease with which they found 
themselves in the Army. They will be keen and vocal critics of the difficulty 
with which they get out. Briefly,we must carry them in the process of transfer. 
There is no reason, for instance, why pay and separation allowances should 
not continue until the man is put back into the position he gave up or was 
compelled to give up. This will cost money ; but the more it costs the more 
likely is the State to speed its machinery up to get rid of the burden of cost. 
Then we must provide the nexus between the Navy, Army and civilian 
employment. The Labour Exchange exists. It is not popular and a strong 
feeling exists in men's minds against it. It should be used, however, if 
possible ; but it might be specially staffed for this special work. It is a great 
opportunity to vitalise an excellent national machine which ought to work 
well. Success now would alter its whole future. 

Lastly, we must see that the discharged man is as well off as the man 
discharged from munition work. The Government have made arrange- 
ments whereby men working on munitions will have certain standards main- 
tained in the event of work slowing down. There will be the same difficulty 
with men getting into work as there is with men getting out of it ; and we 
must see that they are as favourably treated. 



26 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Training and Rehabilitation. 

Third, the resolution asks for facilities in training and rehabilitation. 
As to training, the existing arrangements are not attractive enough to induce 
men to take advantage of them. Consider the position. A man is dis- 
charged to pension. He returns home to a household which has not waxed 
fat on any adequate separation allowance. The alternatives he has, are 
training on sums which continue the separation allowance conditions 
and work at more remunerative rates. In most cases he chooses the latter. 
The only solution of this difficulty is remuneration for training which is as 
attractive as the alternative work. As a matter of fact this would pay the 
State. Every man is rationed to Alternative Pension, which means making 
up the difference between his ordinary disability pension plus his earnings 
to certain fixed sums dependant on his pre-war earnings. The material 
sum is his earnings. It is obvious that his earnings depend on his capacity 
to work. If they are increased, the nation saves money every time on alterna- 
tive pension, besides giving the man a new lease of life. Therefore from an 
economic point of view it is going to pay us to make training attractive. 
Mr. Hodge, the Minister of Pensions, talks of obtaining compulsory powers for 
training. This is quite unnecessary. All that is required is economic 
advantage. 

With regard to rehabilitation, the resolution suggests facilities to men 
to establish themselves in business. So far the only provision made by the 
Ministry of Pensions is charitable aid through the King's Fund, which has 
been repudiated by the discharged men themselves. Charity cannot and 
must not be allowed to deal with this problem. 

What is the problem ? It is very simple. The nation has demanded 
two things of everybody — their money or their life. Money, i.e., War Loan, 
is secured by British credit and carries five per cent, interest. Life is more 
precious than money. Yes, there is no National Life Loan, only a system 
of inadequate pensions. There must be no advantage to money. Life must 
be provided for as generously. If the King's Fund is charitable and is wrong 
in inception, what is the alternative? 

The Civil Liabilities Committee since May, 1916, has carried certain 
liabilities of serving men up to £104 a year. No one between 1914 and 1916 
had the advantage of those who joined the colours subsequently. They 
made sacrifices, and when they return to civilian life they are faced with 
insuperable obstacles to beginning again where they left off. Why not 
continue the Civil Liabilities Committee for the purpose of rehabilitating 
men in business or as wage-earners ? Maximum grants could be fixed. It 
has cost only £5,000,000 a year to carry liabilities when they have been 
serving. It need not cost any great sum when they have served, but the 
consequent relief to the problem of unemployment would be great. The 
scheme is simple. The machinery is in existence, and the Treasury should 
be compelled to meet the situation. 

Pensions and a Standard of Comfort. 
Fourth, the resolution asks for the establishment of a statutory right 
to pensions and for a satisfactory standard of comfort as the basis of the 
same. No man now has any right to pension. It is simply a matter of 
favour. In our colonies men have this statutory right. It is essential for 
many reasons, chief among which is the right of appeal against an award of 



LIBERAL POLICY. 27 

pension. To-day no man even has this right. However dissatisfied 
he may be with his award, he has no appeal against it. A man who 
receives a gratuity has such a right. He can take his case to the Appeals 
Tribunal, an entirely independent and separate body to that which awards 
him the gratuity. The working of this Tribunal has justified its existence, 
as fifty per cent, of appeals have resulted in pension being awarded instead 
of gratuity. If there is so great a disparity in gratuities, there is certain to 
be a great disparity in the award of pensions. 

A Board of Appeal could easily be set up consisting of the County Court 
Registrar assisted by a physician and surgeon not identified with the Ministry 
of Pensions. It would afford great satisfaction and would diminish the 
feeling of discontent which now exists among the men concerned. 

The second point of this discussion deals with the sufficiency of pensions. 
It is obviously difficult to have any sum which could be regarded as sufficient. 
The test must surely be, is the man as well off as when we recruited him. 
Take a case in point. In 1914 a man was earning £2 10s. a week. He is 
totally disabled in the war. He is therefore eligible for Alternative Pension 
and receives 27s. 6d., the highest disability rate, plus 22s. 6d. to make up 
his Alternative Pension. But the purchasing power of money is'so reduced 
that his £2 10s. is now worth only 25s. to 30s. and he is in addition totally 
disabled. We have not carried out our promise to him. With fatherless 
children the case is worse. To-day three children of a serving man receive 
24s. separation allowance, viz., 10s. 6d. ; 8s. ; 5s. 6d. Three children of 
a widow receive 15s. 10d., viz., 6s. 8d. ; 5s., and 4s. 2d., or 8s. 2d. a week 
less than when their father was alive. Admittedly, the question is a difficult 
one to adjust, as it may be that money will depreciate and'pensions therefore 
become more valuable. Meantime, however, a war bonus is necessary or 
the application of a similar principle to that applicable to railway workers — 
an automatic advance with any increase in the cost of living. 



Administration. 

Fifth, the resolution deals with administration. Whatever provisions are 
made, it is obvious that unless they are effectively and promptly administered 
there will be grave dissatisfaction. There is no difficulty about the per- 
manent scales. It is when we come to deal with Alternative Pensions and 
supplementary allowances that delays are frequent. Local War Pension 
Committees investigate but can only pay on the authority of Chelsea. To- 
day an Alternative Pension takes on average 13 weeks to mature. Every 
case must go to London for decision and approval. It is surely absurd that 
cases from John O'Groats to Land's End, from Galway to East Anglia should 
be crowded in on London. Separate committees for the four countries would 
relieve the congestion. 

In the days of the old regular Army it was possible for Chelsea to tackle 
the problem. It is not now possible, and it is imperative that there should 
be as few and as short delays as possible in dealing with such matters. De- 
centralisation is the only cure either to the four countries or to the Regimental 
Commands. The latter has much to commend it, as the machinery of the 
Pay Offices is in existence and could easily be adapted to the needs of the 
situation. 



28 LIBERAL POLICY. 

The Way the Problem must be dealt with. 
Finally, we are convinced that much depends on the way we deal with 
the whole of this problem. Reconstruction is the great task of the future. 
But reconstruction in a disgruntled population is impossible. Before we can 
open the door to any social, economic, and industrial reform we must clear 
away the debris of the war. The sailor and soldier problem— pensions, 
training, treatment, employment— lies on the threshold of every door to any 
reforms and before we look to the future we must deal with the present. 
Unless we do, we can make no real progress. We cannot remain satisfied 
that we have fulfilled our recruiting pledges. 



IV.— THE LIBERTIES OF THE PEOPLE. 

By the Right Hon. T. McKinnon Wood, M.P. 



The resolution of the National Liberal Federation on the liberties of 
the people covered a wide range, but the subject which most naturally leads 
to discussion is the demand that the bureaucratic control of trade and labour, 
established during tha war, shall be brought to an end as soon as possible 
after the restoration of peace. That part of the resolution was subjected 
to some criticisms which wore very wide of the mark. It was treated as if 
it were intended to advocate the doctrine of absolute laissez faire and a revival 
of the extremest precepts of the old Manchester school. The resolution was 
not open to that criticism at all. The critics forgot to notice that the opening 
words referred to the special restrictions which have been found necessary 
during the war, and it was the removal of these " as soon as possible after 
the restoration of peace " which it demanded. It expressed no hostility 
to the action of the Government or municipalities in their proper sphere, 
and, indeed, the Federation carried a resolution in favour of State control 
of railways and canals, which is certainly not the doctrine of pure laissez 
faire. 

Petroleum and Electrical Power. 

We were told lately that good authorities believe that petroleum will 
be found in this country, and the view strongly urged by Liberals in the House 
of Commons has been that, if so, it should not be treated as private property 
but as the property of the State. They have resisted (so far successfully) 
the proposal that it should be subject to royalties to the owners of the land, 
and have urged that all that equity demands is compensation for actual damage. 
We have too many royalties already without establishing new ones. 

Another service in regard to which I am in favour of State control is 
the production of electrical power on the very large monopoly scale which 
is admitted to be necessary. The first bill I introduced in the House in 1906 
was to create a unified municipal supply of electrical power for Greater London. 
Recently the question has been investigated from the national point of view, 
including its relation to the conservation of coal, by two Committees appointed 
by the Government. The broad general principle is that monopolies of services 
or articles necessary to the public should be under public control. When 
the State decides that an industry is what is called a " key industry," that 
the national security demands that we should be independent of foreign supply, 
and that, therefore, it is necessary to give State support, such an industry 
s'sould not be allowed to become a private monopoly or a means of profiteering. 
The adoption of that principle will greatly reduce the claims to have particular 
industries treated as " key industries," the number of which might otherwise 
be considerable. 



30 LIBERAL POLICY. 

The Restoration of Freedom. 

What the resolution affirmed was that the vast system of restriction 
and bureaucratic control which the circumstances of war had produced must 
not be continued as a peace system, and there is certainly a very strong body 
o! opinion in this country which will energetically press for the restoration 
of freedom. There is, on the other hand, support for continued State control 
of industry from two very different and opposed points of view — that of the 
communist, and that of the people, who, while hating German methods of 
war, admire their methods of commerce. These wish the Government to 
support our industries and to keep out foreign competition, and regard the 
German cartel system as th8 last word in commercial efficiency and a 
four-decked tariff as the last word in political wisdom. 

| We are undoubtedly dealing with a real proposition. The Government 
this year introduced a bill into the House of Commons to give the Board of 
Trade control of the import and export trade of the country for three years. 
Under that bill the Government would secure practically complete bureau- 
cratic control of the industries of the country, for every one of them would be 
affected, directly or indirectly, by imports or exports, and most of them by 
both. 

It is impossible to take up an extreme position and to argue that im- 
mediately on the signing of peace all Government control of trade and shipping 
must cease and determine. Ships must still for some time be requisitioned for 
national purposes consequent upon the war, as for example the transport 
of British and American and Colonial armies and their vast stores. The 
Government have purchased immense quantities of certain important raw 
materials and of food, and, therefore, will have control of their import and 
distribution. We all recognise that, while the shortage of tonnage continues, 
n3sessary articles must come first and luxuries must be postponed. 

A Transition Period. 

There must, no doubt, be a transition period during which a certain 
amount of Government control must remain. That is not at all the same 
thing as giving a blank order of unlimited control to the Board of Trade for 
a term of years. No doubt that method appeals to the department as simple 
and likely to save a great deal of preliminary trouble. It will probably be 
urged that it is difficult to foresee exactly what powers will be required ; 
therefore, let us take all power. We shall be reasonable and beneficent 
autocrats. The bill would place the Minister and his advisors in a position 
of extraordinary authority, exercising powers such as no Minister has ever 
possessed, for there is no true analogy between the circumstances of war 
and of peace. The Department would soon find that it had undertaken a 
task far beyond its capacity, and the position of men of business would be 
intolerable. 

I would venture to lay down three conditions. The field of control ought 
to be clearly defined, it ought to be as limited as possible, and the period of 
control should be as short as possible. It will be the duty of the Government 
not to ask for a blank cheque, but to bring specific proposals before Parliament 
and justify them, for though Parliament has delegated almost unlimited 
power to the Executive during war, there is no reason why it should do so 



LIBERAL POLICY. 31 

in time of peace. The restoration of free discussion in Parliament is one of 
the most urgently necessary restorations, and the subject under consideration 
is evidently one for decision by the representative authority, not by a War 
Cabinet, which can make no pretensions to commercial experience, or by 
Government departments, controllers, directors or other officials. 

The Revival of Peace Industries. 

There are the strongest reasons why we should regard as one of our 
first and most urgent duties after the war the revival of our peace industries 
as speedily as may be. It is, first of all, a question of finding employment ; 
that is the most important and urgent aspect. The great demand for munitions 
will have ceased ; we cannot afford to go on making guns and shells, of 
which we shall have enormous stocks. It is necessary to get back at once 
to the production of what is useful to man, to make up long arrears, to lay 
the foundation for continuous and in the true sense productive employment. 
At first hundreds of thousands will have lost their situations. The soldiers 
will be returning from the front. For them the nation will be ready, I do 
not doubt, to make provision till employment can be found. 

Of course, there will be, on the other hand, a great demand for labour. 
The land, the mines, the quarries, the brickfields, the engine shops, the ship- 
building yards, are all short of men. But in many trades lack of raw material 
will cause delay. There are hundreds of thousands of houses to build, but 
we have first to get the stone and brick and timber and steel. We must get 
back our foreign trade, for we have to clear off a large indebtedness in order 
to restore our position in the foreign exchanges. We have lost a great deal 
in this war. What we call our invisible exports, which helped so very largely 
to pay for our imports, will be seriously reduced. We have parted with or 
pledged many of our foreign investments. Our shipping has been reduced by 
over 20 per cent., while the losses of other countries have been, taking them 
not individually but all together, more than made up by new construction. 
On the 6th November it was stated in the House of Commons, on behalf of the 
Admiralty, that our nett loss of steamships exceeds 3^ millions gross tons. 
Owing to the rapid building of ships in the United States there will be a 
much larger foreign tonnage on the seas. Whatever compensation we may 
exact from Germany for her acts of piracy, there is no doubt that we shall 
be earning a smaller proportion of the freights of the world. 

During the war our shipping has been diverted from old lines of trade ; 
our merchants have been unable to maintain old connections. There has 
been a general and a profound disturbance of our foreign trade. Valuable 
services have been rendered in the past by British firms who maintained 
branches in foreign countries and have had a considerable share, owing to 
their intimate acquaintance with local conditions, in bringing to this country 
an immense and profitable business through British ownership of railways, 
mines, oil-fields and other undertakings, apart from their regular business 
as merchants, the necessity and value of which many half-informed persons 
fail to understand. High rates of Income-tax have been causing a severance 
from this country of great businesses which had their headquarters here but 
conducted large operations under partners resident abroad, who object strongly 
to double taxes and especially to the British scale which war has rendered 
necessary. Thus again we are losing control of foreign trade. 



32 LIBERAL POLICY. 

The Danger of Trusts. 

It would be unwise to attempt more than to state a few points for con- 
sideration dealing with the situation in its larger aspects. No general statement 
can apply equally to all branches of commerce. The effects of the war are of 
infinite variety ; one hears of sinking concerns which have been firmly estab- 
lished, of sound concerns which have been crippled, and the effect upon whole 
trades is extremely varied, so that men of business talk in language of all 
shades of pessimism and optimism. 

Some tell us that great improvements in methods and machinery of 
production have been adopted under the stress of urgency, and that we shall 
continue to reap the benefit after the war. This is true, but can only apply 
to some departments of industry. Other departments the war has simply 
disorganised. 

Some see in combination and larger scale of production great possibilities, 
and no doubt that is sound within certain limits and as regards some types of 
industry. But one thing we have to be very careful about. We must see to it 
that we are not let in for the system of vast dominating and domineering trusts 
whose wide-spreading tentacles crush all competitors and master other indus- 
tries dependent upon them. The danger is not entirely negligible. We must 
apply the lesson of the experience of the United States of America. Those 
inclined to favour the Trust system may be recommended to study the Report 
of the Commission on the Meat Trust, which has found it necessary to advise 
the Government to intervene in a most drastic manner to protect both producers 
and consumers. Very large combinations do not have all the advantages on 
their side. From the point of view of giving a chance to talent, to independent 
personal initiative, of encouraging freedom and variety of enterprise, and for 
social reasons, there are strong arguments against allowing industrial under- 
takings on a moderate or even a small scale to be crushed out. 

Some attach great importance, for the improvement of foreign trade, to 
an enlarged and reformed consular service. This is an excellent idea if you 
do not expect from it what it can never supply. It cannot take the place of 
individual initiative. 

But all men of experience are agreed as to the magnitude of the business 
of commercial restoration and reconstruction. There will be new situations 
to face, old ground to recover, new ground to break up. New ideas and 
methods will be necessary. Complex problems will have to be solved. Our 
business men will require all their resource and courage to recover their 
country's old position in commerce and finance. 

" On the Side of Freedom." 

The question then arises whether the State can best assist the revival of 
commerce by continuing the control to which we have submitted during the 
war, or by restoring freedom to industry. I am clearly on the side of freedom. 
Our business men, whatever their determination and resource, will not be 
able to restore our industries if you insist on keeping them in shackles. How 
can they make engagements ahead, complex arrangements, if they are in fear 
and doubt lest at some necessary stage of the process some official with very 
little expert knowledge may absolutely stop them and destroy the whole of 
their plans ? Every day now they are experiencing the effects of departmental 
control. It inevitably involves delay when prompt decision is essential. An 



LIBERAL POLICY, 33 

importer has an offer of tonnage, he applies for a permit ; by the time the 
matter has been considered and he receives a reply, a foreigner has stepped in 
and secured the tonnage. He has a chance of a foreign order. Can. he obtain 
some necessary materia! ? Will he fee allowed to ship the goods ? Weeks 
pass before he can get these points settled with the controllers or directors, or 
subordinate officials. The business has passed him. There is always an 
element of uncertainty, which paralyses business. There is the irritating 
necessity of explaining busines's to people who imperfectly understand it. 
There is nothing more discouraging to enterprise than that. 

The fact is that no Government department which the wit of man can 
devise can have the necessary knowledge to deal with the complex industries 
of this country. Nor do you improve the position by placing affairs in the 
control of supar-lfusiness-men. Every business man knows that, however 
large and varied his experience, there is outside his sphere cf knowledge an 
immensely larger field of which he has no experience. He has probably been 
successful because he devoted himself to his own business and has not had, 
like the fool, his eyes in the ends of the earth, The appointment of men 
actually concerned in a tirade to control that trade is attended with other 
difficulties and dangers which will be obvious to every man of business. 
In short, bureaucratic control presents in?3urnerable obstacles to the successful 
carrying on of business. 

The strong and deep-seatsd objection to bureaucratic control is not based 
on theory but on four years' experience. The system has proved very costly, 
directly and Indirectly. Its tens of thousands of temporary officials have been 
of all grades of competency and Incompetency, experience and inexperience. 
Its weM-meant regulations have often produced the opposite effect to that 
intended, as when it fixed prices in certain cases and diverted the whole supply 
from this country. There has been unnecessary and often rather arbitrary 
interference with legitimate and long-established channels of business. 

Restrictions Must be Removed. 

I do not believe that we shall see a real revival of industry until we get rid 
of restrictions, licences and permits and give free scope to the energy and 
intelligence of our men of business to adapt themselves to the new conditions 
of the world and the novel and difficult problems which will face them, 

There is another reason why the State is deeply interested in a speedy 
revival of trade. Commerce has born© a very large and a special share of the 
new burdens of the war. The profits made in the manufacture of munitions 
on which a large amount of taxation has been levied will have ceased entirely, 
and unless oar peace production is on a large scale the position of cur 
ChanceMor of the Exchequer, and, what is more important, that of the tax- 
payer, will be an extremely uncomfortable one, 

Thare will b« great opportunities for us in the future as well as great 
difficulties, but we shall, in my humble judgment, neither be able to take 
advantage of thz one nor overcome the other unless we shake oil the 
trammels of Mreaucratic control. 

Freedom for Labour. 
The vast demands of war on its present scale very soon outstripped 
the capacity of our arsenals and armament works. The State, for the pro- 
tection o£ the nation and with the concurrence of the people, had to compel 



34 LIBERAL POLICY, 

both masters and workmen to abandon their ordinary work and devote 
themselves to the manufacture of munitions of war. That meant bureau- 
cratic control both of masters and men. This was submitted to more or 
less willingly, and in the end the plea of patriotic necessity has overcome 
the many troubles which have arisen. But no one who has been watching 
even cursorily and from the outside, the progress of events would suggest 
for a moment that bureaucratic control over labour has been an unquali- 
fied success, or even (except for its temporary purpose) a success at all. 
Though it might have been thought that the wide area of control would 
have caused broad views to be taken covering the whole field, that has not 
been the ease. Remedies have been adopted to meet a special and limited 
difficulty, which have caused disturbance over the whole world of labour. 
There has been great inequality of reward ; work of high skill has often 
brought lower wages than unskilled work. 

It is unnecessary to dwell upon other points or to discuss the matter in 
detail, because solemn pledges have been given to workmen that full liberty 
will be restored after the war. It is idle to tell us that what we need is more 
discipline. What we must hope and work for is a whole-hearted national 
effort to bring about relations of better mutual understanding. It is essential 
that all classes engaged In production should appreciate the real economic 
position of the country — the facts that are hidden by the abnormal and 
temporary circumstances of the war. The workers will not accept statements 
on authority from Government Departments. They will judge for them- 
selves. 

Here a free Independent Press not writing to a dictated policy nor acting 
as an instrument of Government, but openly publishing all the facts and 
discussing them impartially, will be invaluable. It is not enough to have 
them stated from the point of view of great capitalists, who control so many 
newspapers, nor from that of sections of labour alone, nor through propa- 
gandist organs. What we want is that all should have the means of under- 
standing what the true position is and of watching how it develops under 
the new conditions, as affecting the whole nation, including all classes of 
labour, skilled or unskilled, well organised or not, as well as all the other 
classes of the community. 

" The True Policy.*' 

For the true policy toward labour and, what is most important, the 
true policy of labour must be based upon the actual facts impartially stated, 
and generally understood. This is not the place to enter into discussion of 
the complex economic position, much less to venture upon prophecy. The 
forecasts of persons of experience on the outbreak of the war were not realised 
in the form or at the time they anticipated, though broadly and in the long 
run many of them have proved true. This much, however, may be said 
without hesitation. There will be an enormous amount of work to be done 
to restore our former production and our foreign trade, a still more extensive 
effort necessary to restore the ravaged territories of our Allies. The demands 
upon the raw materials of the world— for example in building materials, 
metals and coal — will for a time greatly exceed the supply. We and our 
Allies will end the war under very onerous obligations to the United States 
and some of the neutrais. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 35 

To place our economic structure upon sound peace conditions the one 
thing needful is a larger production at home of food, of raw materials and of 
manufactured goods. To my mind one of the essential conditions of larger 
production is the free goodwill of the workers. How is that to fee obtained ? 
It will come only if they clearly understand that large production is necessary 
to the nation as a whole, especially to the workers and their families, because 
the stocks of things useful to man, food and clothing and houses and machinery 
and, indeed, nearly everything, have been sadly depleted by the years of war, 
and must be made up if the necessary standard of comfort is to be main- 
tained. Talk to them not of money but of things, and they will understand. 
They responded to the patriotic war appeal and production was increased 
to save the nation from defeat ; they will respond to the* patriotic appeal 
of peace. 

But it will be fatal if action is taken which will cause them to think 
that they are being exploited under any plea. It is large production we 
want, not low wages. In fact, the paint must be urged and proved that 
large production is necessary to maintain a good standard of real wages. 
The WMtley Report contains a valuable suggestion of machinery to make 
co-operation possible ; It is based upon the idea of a more genuine and 
intelligent partnership between labour and employers. The greater efficiency 
the nation needs must be based upon better mutual understanding upon 
mutual goodwill and upon complete freedom. 



Personal Liberty and Freedom of the Press. 
The restrictions upon personal liberty which have been a necessary con- 
sequence of the war will pass away. The Censorship will vanish, to the 
great satisfaction of the Press and Its readers. The suppression of informa- 
tion, which was Justified on the plea of military necessity and was sometimes 
carried to dangerous lengths, will no longer have any justification. But I 
hope we shall have a free Press in a wider sanse. I express this hope in the 
interest of the Press itself, because of its importance as a necessary part 
of the machinery of democracy, and in the interests of good government. An 
independent Press is a great safeguard against corruption, incompetence, 
trickery and falsehood. It throws light into dirty corners which, if left 
unswept, will become breeding places for disease-carrying insects. -It 
exposes shams and tests realities* It is the chief supplier of information to 
the public, one of the great organs in the testing of ail sorts of opinions, 
policies and projects. A free Press is an essential instrument of progress and 
national development. The leading articles matter little ; the news columns 
matter much. If a newspaper states facts accurately and reports varied 
opinions impartially, the public will regard it as a good newspaper, whatever 
it may think of its editorials. The Press should be a true mirror of the 
world which it reflects. 



V.— NATIONAL FINANCE. 

By Rt. Hon. Lexf Jones, M.P. 

[The reader should bear in mind that this article was written just before the 
conclusion of the armistice with Germany. ,] 



On May 4th, 1014, Mr. Llcyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
introduced the last pre-war Budget. The expenditure for the year ending 
March 31st, 1915, was estimated at £209,203,000, the revenue at £209,455,000.. 
The gross liabilities of the State were about £650,000,000. We had then a 
complete and effective gold standard ; foreign exchanges were uniformly 
favourable* for our trade was large and flourishing ; commodities in this 
country were cheap, good and abundant; Government expenditure was 
within reasonable limits, low taxation provided an ample revenue to meet 
It, and our national accounts balanced. As a nation we were rich, and 
growing richer. 

Effects of the War Expenditure. 

On April 22nd, 1918, Mr. Bonar Law brought in the last War Budget 
for the year ending March 31st, 1919. The estimated expenditure had 
grown to £2,972,197,000 ; the estimated revenue to £842,050,000, and the 
estimated debt at March 31st, 1919, to £7,980,000,000. During the war the 
expenditure has increased fourteenfold, the revenue fourfold, the debt 
twelvefold. The gold standard has ceased to be effective, the currency is 
depreciated, foreign exchanges are against us ; commodities are dear, bad 
and scarce ; taxation is heavy, yet wholly Insufficient to meet our expenditure ; 
our natianal accounts no longer balance. The Chancellor of the Exchequer 
spends what he chooses, raises what he can by taxation, and borrows the 
difference (estimated for 1918-19 at £2,130,147,000) at a high rate of interest. 
As a nation we are much poorer than we were five years ago, and we continue 
to grow poorer while the war expenditure lasts. 

Included in the gross debt are loans to the Allies to the extent of 
£1,632,000,000, of which it is reckoned that one half (or £816,000,000} may be 
recoverable. To the Dominions we have lent £244,000,000, and the obligation 
of India is £64,000,000. Deducting these three sums (together £1,124,000,000) 
from the gross debt, we reach the figure of £6,856,000,000 as the net liability 
of the country at the end of the financial year. 

Mr. Bonar Law claimed that this sum might be still further reduced by 
the value of stores of various kinds in the hands of the Government, estimated 
at £672,000,000 and by arrears of Excess Profits Duty to the extent of 
£500,000,000. But he made no allowance for expenses of demobilisation, or 
for unforeseen obligations at the end of the war, and it would be unsafe to 
reckon on the unseen assets being more than sufficient to meet the unknown 
liabilities. The gross debt at the beginning of November is already over 
£7,000,000,000, and even if the war ends at once, we must reckon on being 
left with a net liability of between £6,000,000,000 and £7,000,000,000. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 37 

The debt is greater than it need have been for two reasons, each of which 
has an important bearing on the future finances of the nation ; throughout 
the war 

(1) Too much money has been spent ; 

(2) Of the money spent, too much has been borrowed, too little raised by 

taxation. 

(1) War Expenditure. — Since the war began the daily expenditure has 
grown with ever-increasing momentum. In the first months of the war it 
stood at the comparatively modest figure of 1| millions a day. By 1916 it 
was over 3 millions a day. In the current year it has been over 8 millions a 
day, or about £100 per second. Faced with the necessity of getting war 
supplies quickly, the Government has lacked the wili or the capacity to get 
them, I will not say cheaply, but at a fair price. In time of war and national 
peril, the Government might fairly have claimed the services of the people at 
less than ordinary rates ; but except in the case of the fighting men, no such 
claim was made. Little effort was made to keep prices down, extravagance 
has run riot through the Government Departments until they have become 
a by-word among the people. Waste is ever an accompaniment of war, and 
as this is the greatest of all wars, so the expenditure and the waste have been 
the greatest on record. The Reports of the National Expenditure Committee, 
to whose appointment the Government In the middle of 1917 yielded a 
reluctant consent when faced by an irresistible demand within and without 
the House of Commons, have revealed some of the leaks through which the 
national millions have been poured away, and through some of which they 
are still flowing/ It suffices to name Loch Doon, the national shipyards, the 
bread subsidy, the Ministry of Information, as instances of reckless expen- 
diture, for which the nation has received no adequate return. The National 
Expenditure Committee, with Mr. Herbert Samuel as Chairman, has certainly 
justified its existence, and will now probably become a permanent part of 
the House of Commons machinery for controlling finance. Had such a 
Committee been set up at the outset of the war, national expenditure might 
never have attained its present dimensions. 

(2) War Taxation.~Jn finding the money for carrying on the war, 
successive Chancellors of the Exchequer have preferred to rely on the fatally 
easy plan of borrowing most of what they required, instead cf facing the 
difficulties and unpopularity of straightway imposing high taxation. On 
the basis of this year's estimates, wo shall have spent during the five years 
ending March 31st, 1919, in round figures 10 thousand million pounds. 
Assuming a peace expenditure of £200,000,000 a year, this gives as the 
gross cost of the war £9,000,000,000. Of this sura £1,686,000,000 will have 
been paid out of war taxation, and £7,314,000,000 has been borrowed, raising 
the figure of our gross debt on March 31st, 1919, to the total named by the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, £7,980,000,000. The true rule of taxation 
would have been to have raised from the first year of the war the maximum 
revenue possible by taxation ; the practice has been to raise the minimum 
consistent with financial solvency. The rule laid down by Mr. McKenna, 
and followed by Mr. Bonar Law, was each year to impose so much new taxation 
as would suffice to cover the extra charges for interest and sinking fund on 
the debt and for pensions, on the assumption that the war came to an end 
with the financial year. It is true that the observance of this rule has 
sufficed to secure financial solvency ; but by not aiming higher, our Chancellors 



38 L 

have deliberately refrained from using far and away the most powerful 
instrument for keeping down the expenditure alike of Government and of 
the people. 

The Question of Higher Taxation. 

Higher taxation would have diminished the spending power of the 
people by cutting down the margin they had to spare for comforts and 
luxuries. In its turn the diminished demand wouid have helped to keep 
down prices, and thereby lessened the total of national spending. On the 
Government the effect wouid have been even greater ; for had the Govern- 
ment's power of borrowing been limited, Government spending would have 
been correspondingly reduced. Had it been the understood rule that a large 
part of all new expenditure would have to be met out of new taxation, the 
Government, faced by the necessity of devising and imposing the new taxes, 
would have striven hard to keep down prices, the lower range of prices would 
have diminished the total amount of money required, and the margin 
borrowed would have been doubly reduced. 

Unhappily the rule was "'limited taxation, unlimited borrowing," 
and the inevitable has happened. " Things are what they are, and their 
consequences will fee what they will be." Borrowing has led to inflation, 
inflation to higher prices, higher prices to higher wages, higher wages to 
Increased cost of production and still higher prises, and these again to higher 
wages, the nation being whirled along in a vicious circle from which no exit 
is possible, until borrowing ceases, and we begin once again to live withira 
our means. 

Fortunately that time is near at hand, and we must now consider 
how we are to deal with the War Debt, and the Immediate tasks that will 
confront us when peace comes. 



Foremost amongst them is the demobilisation of the fighting forces and 
the restoration to productive industry of the millions who during the war 
have devoted their energies either to actual fighting or to the manufacture 
of munitions of war. To accomplish this change quickly is important from 
every point of view ; financially the change will be greatest of all, for instead 
of being a charge upon the producing power of the community, all these men 
and women will become producers, not only maintaining themselves, hut 
contributing to the reduction of the war burden. During the period of de- 
mobilisation some of the war expenditure-— at a rapidly reduced rate, let us 
hope — will continue ; but with the fighting coming to an end in November, 
there is a large margin in this year's estimates, and no further borrowing 
should be required. 

Scarcely less urgent is the demobilisation of the new Government 
Departments with their vast army of officials. And this may be no easy 
task. Called into existence by the pressure of war needs, reckless in 
expenditure, ready to brush aside actualities in the determination to carry 
through their own crude schemes, wielding autocratic powers with the self- 
confidence of ignorance asd inexperience, these officials will not be ready to 
yield up without a struggle their control over the national resources and all 
the means of production and distribution. Yet at this moment " Protection 
against the Government " is in Mill's words as important as ** Protection by 



LIBERAL POLICY. 39 

the Government." Nor will it be easy to reassert in Government Departments 
the old system of scrutinising expenditure and making ends meet. 
The reduction of public extravagance is among the most pressing of the 
post-war problems. 

The Replacement of Capital* 

With peace will come the necessity for the replacement of the capital of 
the country, which has been steadily diminishing during the war. Ships 
have been sunk, and not replaced. Our mercantile marine, which was some 
20 million tons before the war, has been reduced t© 15| million tons. America 
and Japan have been building rapidly, and many years must pass before 
British shipping is restored to its old commanding position. 

Railways have suffered through the removal of engines, carriages, rails, 
to the seat of war, the failure to renew and repair the rolling-stock, and the 
neglect of the stations and permanent way. 

Mines and quarries suffer similarly for want of repair. Farm buildings 
and farm houses are falling into decay. Houses are neglected, and new ones 
not built, though the need is crying. Factories and machinery are all in the 
same case. There are no means of reckoning accurately the money value of 
all this deterioration, but it runs into hundreds of millions ; probably 1,000 
millions would be a moderate estimate, and it must all be made good by 
genuine savings ; no manipulation of credit will avail. Goods have perished, 
and new goods must be made to replace them. There is no other way. 

The Repayment of Government Securities. 

The Committee on Currency and Foreign Exchanges after the War 
says in its recent Report : 

'* A primary condition of the restoration of a sound credit position is the 
repayment of a large portion of the enormous amount of Government 
Securities now held by the banks- It is essential that as soon as possible the 
State should not only live within its income, but should begin to reduce its 
indebtedness . We accordingly recommend that at the earliest possible moment 
an adequate sinking fund should be provided out of the revenue, so that there 
may be a regular annual reduction of capital liabilities . We should remark that 
it is of the utmost importance that such repayment of debt should not be offset 
by fresh borrowings for capital expenditure. We are aware that immediately 
after the war, there will be strong pressure for capital expenditure by the State 
in many forms for reconstruction purposes. But it is essential to the restora- 
tion of an effective gold standard that the money for such expenditure should 
not be provided by the creation of new credit, and that in so far as such expen- 
diture is undertaken at all, it should be undertaken with great caution. The 
necessity of providing for our indispensable supplies of food and raw materials 
from abroad, and for arrears of repairs to manufacturing plant and the transport 
system at home will limit the savings available for new capital expenditure 
for a considerable period." 

The First Year after the War. 
" We must live within our means, and begin to pay our debts." In the 
light of these simple but pregnant words, let us examine the national 
expenditure and revenue for the first year after the war. 



*0 LIBERAL POLICY. 

In his Budget speech on April 22nd, 1918, Mr. Bona? Law made a fore- 
cast of the revenue and expenditure for the year 1319-20, on the supposition 
that the war would b® over during the* current year. He estimated the 
" lure of the first peace year at 650 millions, made, up as follows :— 

£173,000,000 

" 50,000,000 

47,000,000 

380,000,000 



Pre-war expenditure (exclusive of the service of the debt) 

Pensions, 1919-20 

Add for normal growth of estimates, education, etc. ... 
Interest and sinking fund on debt : S|-% on £6,858,000,000 



£650,000,000 

The revenue Is mora difficult to forecast. 

For 1918-19 Mr. Bonar Law's estimate was 842 millions, and for -a year 
in which the new taxes imposed this year give a fuli year's yield 8S9 millions, 
made up as follows : — 

Customs and Excise ; ... £i SS> 65O,0OO 

Estate Duties ... 31,500.000 

Income Tax and Super Tax 328,350,000 

Sandr * ■ - - ... 12,750,000 

Non-Tax Revenue ... ... 80,500,000 

Excess Profits Duty .' ... ... ... 300,000000 



£888,750,000 

Leaving out Excess Profits Duty, Mr. B. Law anticipated that the 
actual revenue for 1919-20 would be 654 millions, and claimed that the 
estimate was " on a conservative basis." 

On these calculations, therefore, the first Peace Budget would show a 
surplus, without new taxation. It must be admitted, however, that the 
estimases alike of expenditure and revenue are highly conjectural, and the 
reality may provide large variations on both sides of the account. But these 
estimates show us that provided we are prepared to move cautiously, to pay 
off old debts before incurring new ones, and to meet new expenditure by 
increased output, and saving, there is nothing in the financial situation to 
alarm us or to drive us to revolutionary or extreme financial courses. 

Rules of Equitable Taxation. 
If the revenue is insufficient either for current expenditure or for the 
cost of reconstruction schemes, new taxation can be borne, provided that 
in selecting the new imposts, certain simple rules 0! equltabia taxation ar» 
observed. Mr. Asquith stated these rules with his accustomed brevity, 
clearness and completeness in his speech on " Problems of the Peace " at the 
National Liberal Federation Council meeting at Derby on March 22nd 
1918. He said :— 

"Taxation must in my judgment satisfy three conditions : — 

(1) Tt must not fetter the free and natural development of our industries 
and of our markets, 

(2) It mast not check or penalise, directly or indirectly, saving and 
accumulation. 

(3) It must be so adjusted by graduation and discrimination as to 
apportion with far more equality than has been possible under our 
present system the burden oi payment to the capacity to bear it "■ 



LIBERAL POLICY. 41 

On these safe Hues this country can not only shoulder with equanimity 
the heavy burdens of the war, but can provide the funds necessary to mak« 
good the ravage&asjd neglect of tls&lasl four years, and to rebuild our national 
life on sound, healthy, happy lines. It will not be done in a day ; it requires 
faith, effort, perseverance, and a dogged adherence to industry and thrift, 
the tree sources of national w«aith and well-being. 

Patience is not, however, the predominant note of the moment, aivi 
even among economists are found some who counsel violent change and 
heroic methods. They declare thai present-day taxation is already too 
haavy, and that the taxpayers will not bear the additional charges required 
to meet necessary new expenditure. They therefore call upon us to take an 
unprecedented step, and while we are still weary after the mighty struggla from 
which we are emerging, they bid us undertake to pay at one blow the whole or 
a large portion of the debt, by means of what is called " a capital levy.** 
Borrowing an analogy from the Compulsory Service Acts, they demand 
the " conscription of wealth." The very name contains a question begging 
assumption, implying that as soldiers have been eonseriptsd to fight, so 
the wealth of those who are not soldiers (and incidentally of those who are) 
should be seized to pay the debt. In truth, however, the analogy has little 
meaning. All taxation is and always has been conscription of wealth, since 
it is the compulsory contribution of the taxpayer for the cost of public 
services. Moreover all taxation is paid by persons, and no question of 
principle is at stake in basing the taxpayer's contribution on bis saved up 
wealth, on his income, on his expenditure, or on some other standard that 
may enable us to determine fairly his taxpaying capacity. The proposal is 
not to be accepted or rejected without examination. It is purely a question 
of expediency, but not unimportant on that account. » 

Paying off the National Debt. 

There, is nothing new in the proposal that wo should pay off the whole 
of the National Debt by one great effort. Ricardo put it forward after the 
French war 100 years ago, urging that the debt entails a charge on the income 
of the future, and that there is little object In delaying repayment which 
must ultimately be made ; but he coupled it with a governing condition 
that the country which intends to extinguish its debt must indulge in no 
fresh borrowing. 

So to-day advocates of the capital levy tell us that it is to be made once, 
and once only ; that the occasion is special and unique, and that there 
would be no repetition in future. If, however, the financial method is 
sound and expedient, why should it not be repeated ? Moreover, what 
possible value attaches to an assertion of this kind. No Parliament can 
bind its successor, and the declaration that a particular action is special 
and unique and not to be repeated will not prevent it from being quoted as a 
precedent when the occasion arises. 

Extravagance of Government Departments. 

At this moment we have a system of Government by Departments with 
an ingrained habit of extravagant spending. Kothing will break them of 
this habit but the pressure of public opinion demanding a limitation of 
spending in order to reduce the burden of taxation. To such a Government, 



42 LIBERAL POLICY. 

anxious to Indulge in magnificent and costly enterprises at the public expense, 
the knowledge that a large sum could be raised by merely seizing another 
portion of the realised wealth of individuals, would be an irresistible tempta- 
tion, The precedent would be duly invoked, another levy would be made, 
the lavish spending would continue for another period, and the time of 
economising would be postponed to a more convenient season. Professor 
Scott does well to insist, as he does in the " Economic Journal " for Septem- 
ber, that " the great post-war financial problem will not be distribution of 
taxation, nor productiveness of revenue, but the disciplining of expenditure 
in order to secure results adequate to the outlay." 

The Investment of New Capital. 

As we have already seen, with peace will come a great demand for the 
investment of new capital in all manner of industrial enterprises, and this 
gives special emphasis to Mr. Asquith's second canon of sound taxation that, 
*' it must not cheek and penalise, directly or indirectly, saving and accumula- 
tion." Yet this must be the tendency of repeated taxation of capital ; 
for it would be a direct invitation to all producers of wealth to consume it 
as fast as it is made, because only by consuming It could they have security 
against being deprived by the Government of the enjoyment of spending 
their earnings. 

If people can say truly : — 

•* What I spent, I had, 
What I saved, I lost," 
a deadly blow will have been struck at the nation's power of accumulation, 
and the new capital so urgently required for future production will not be 
forthcoming. To be sure, all high taxation is a drag upon accumulation, 
and this is marked in very steeply graded Income-tax and death duties ; 
but it is most salient in the case of a definite capital tax, and for that reason 
economists have generally deprecated such a tax. At this time saving is 
a national service, and it is all-Important that men should know that their 
savings will be scrupulously respected. 

A Capital Levy. 

The supreme practical difficulty in the way of a capita! Eevyis the valuation 
involved — a difficulty so great as to be almost insuperable. Capital value is 
an abstraction, an estimate which may or may not be realised. The income 
of a given year is an ascertained fact ; and for that reason is the safest and 
most convenient basis for taxation. It is no doubt easy to value stocks and 
shares, which are quoted in the Stock markets of the world ; but when 
capital is invested directly in Industrial and commercial enterprises, its 
valuation is largely a matter of speculation. Moreover, in such cases the 
taxing authority would often, perhaps generally, be driven to leave its share 
invested in the business, and be content with a mortgage upon it, receiving 
a payment of annua] interest upon the supposed value. What is this but 
a new Income-tax on the profits of the business affected. Similarly in most 
of the difficult cases the capital levy would resolve itself into payment by 
instalments spread over many years— again a practical addition to the 
Income-tax, 



LIBERAL POLICY. 43 

This brings us to the conclusion that the capita! tax is, perhaps, alter 
ail, best kept in the purely subordinate position which it occupies in our 
present system of taxation. In the shape of death duties, it serves the 
legitimate purpose of filling in the gaps left by the Income-tax, by raising 
annually some taxation In respect of non-income-paying property. With 
the death duties and the Super-tax, the Income-tax has shown itself an 
instrument powerful enough to enable us to surmount all our financial 
difficulties, and the case has not been made out for the substitution for its 
proved efficiency of tha uncertain results of a new capital levy. 

The Strength of our Financial System- 

The moment for a revolutionary change in our financial methods is 
surely ill-chosen. We are just emerging from the stress of a great war ; 
for 4| years we have poured forth treasure with both hands ; our expenditure 
has been on a scale undreamed of ; ^ to-day we are triumphant and solvent. 
The structure of our national finance, founded on the teachings of Adam 
Smith, and erected by master builders like Peel and Gladstone, has weathered 
the fiercest storm it can ever be called on to face. We can pay our debts ; 
our credit is still good ; we can provide out of revenue for all requisite new 
expenditure. The burden can and ought to be spread so as to put no pressure 
upon the necessaries of life, to fall nowhere crushingly, but most heavily 
on those best able to bear it. Time has proved the strength of our 
financial system, and we can adapt it to all new needs. 



VI. FREE TRADE. 

By the Rt. Hon. j. M. Robertson, M.P. 



H has been evident for more than two years past that the war has been 
taken by the British Tariff party as a pretext for a new offensive against Free 
Trade. Two strong currents of national feeling have been turned to account 
to work a change in opinion on the fiscal problem which during ten years of 
debate it was found Impossible to bring about. Righteous wrath against 
Germany on the one hand, and gratitude to our self-governing Overseas Domin- 
ions on the other, are sought to be exploited in favour at once of a general 
tariff on manufactured imports and an Imperial Preference. On both heads 
highly conflicting proposals are current ; and it is important at the outset to 
make the issues clear. 

Exclusion and Tariffs. 

1. The desire to exclude German goods is founded on as a ground for a 
tariff which will not exclude them, but will merely raise the price of auy that 
may come in. These will certainly, for a long period, be in small quantity as 
compared with pre-war imports ; and they are the more likely, therefore, to 
consist only of such things as arc specially useful to British industry or agricul- 
ture, as, for instance, fertilisers. A tariff will make fertilisers more costly, and 
thus tend to " depress agriculture." 

2 But though resentment against German crime is used as the main 
pretext, the proposal commonly put is that all imports of manufactures shall 
he subject to a tariff. There is no definite official programme thus far before 
the country ; but the common notion appears to be that (i) Empire goods should 
come in at the lowest rate ; (2) those of Allies at a higher tax ; (3) those of 
Neutrals at a still higher tax ; and (4) those of Enemies at the highest tax of ail. 

3. Thus the tariffists propose, as soon as the war is over, to put us 
on a hostile trade footing with even our Allies as compared with our Dominions, 
and with Neutrals as compared with Allies, 

It is not clear whether our tariffists expect our Allies, thus partly penalised 
in our markets, to treat enemy goods in the same way as we do. If such an 
expectation is entertained, it may suffice to say at once that it will certainly not 
be realised. Belgium and France, to begin with, count with just confidence 
on exacting from Germany reparation for the enormous destruction she has 
wrought upon their territories. Such reparation can be made only in kind, in 
actual things - goods, machinery, furniture, clothing, ores, metals, industrial 
material, building material, chemicals, hardware, and so on. The common- 
sense course is to exact such reparation under a fixed schedule of values ; and 



LIBERAL POLICY. 45 

tho levying of a special tariff upon goods so exacted would be a meaningless 
act,- as the goods would be consigned to the respective Governments, and left 
to them to distribute. 

Russia, on the other hand, even when freed from the obligations of the 
Brest- Litovsk Treaty, will inevitably trade largely with the Central Powers. 
She is their neighbour geographically, and can nowhere And markets that . 
would compensate her for a cessation of trade with them. Italy, yet again, is 
in a somewhat similar position. 

Tariffs will hamper British Trade. 

If, then, Britain should give to her Allies only second-best tariff treatment, 
there is every probability that Germany will oiler them inost-favoured-nation 
treatment. Still more certain is it that she will offer such treatment to the 
Neutrals, who in tarms of the current British tariflist proposals are to have only 
third-best treatment from us. Thus, as far as tariff penalties could bring it 
about, our former trade with both Allies and Neutrals would be driven into 
the promptly opened arms of Germany, who would find her instant profit in 
encouraging what we discouraged. 

Let It be asked, With whom is Belgium to trade if we put new obstacles 
in the way of her former trade with us ? and the folly of the new proposals 
will be apparent. Belgium, we trust, stands m receive from Germany, as 
reparation, very large quantities both of raw produce, of machinery, and of 
manufactured goods as fast as Germany can be made to deliver them. Should 
Belgium, in the course of trade, desire tc dispose of any of those goods in 
Britain, in virtual exchange for goods that she may desire to buy from us, a 
tariff will have the same deterrent effect on the process as it wouM have if the 
goods had been Belgium's own produce ; and her natural course will be to 
trade with any other country that will give her more favourable terms. 

The policy proposed by our tariffists, then, is absolutely bound to hamper 
and frustrate British trade in all directions. And it, as seems highly probable, 
the United States refuses tc set up preferential tariff rates against Neutrals 
after the war, she will stand to gain much of the manufacturing trade which 
we, if we turn tarifflsts, wilfully divert from ourselves. 

It is necessary to keep in view that the tribute oi goods by which atone 
Germany can pay compensation for the destruction she has caused mvst gj 
on for a number of years. TarifSsts appear to suppose that the whole trans- 
action ean be carried out by bullion and paper, as was the payment of the 
French indemnity in 1871. But all the bullion of Europe, were it in Germany's 
possession, would not nearly suffice to meet her obligations. Even the payment 
of the French indemnity of £20*),000,000 was spread out over a eonsiderable 
time. The German indemnities will be many times larger, and can be paid 
only by years of tributary industry. 

The Proposed Boycott of German Goods. 

It is thus evident that those who talk of a boycott on German goods are in 
effect proposing that Germany shall not be made to pay any indemnities save 
what she can give in bullion. On the other hand, if it be proposed to exclude 
German goods from our markets after the indemnities have bean made (a 
matter which might very well be left over to deal with when the time comes), 
it has to be pointed out that neithsr a prohibition nor a special tariff couid be 



46 LIBERAL POLICY, 

relied on to attain its object ; for German capital would then be likely to be 
employed in manufactures in the surrounding neutral countries, and its produce 
would come to us as Neutrals' goods. 

Thus, heartily as we may all sympathise with the wish to penalise Germany 
in the future through her industry for the innumerable crimes committed by 
her soldiery during the war, it becomes clear that tariffs and boycotts cannot 
have the desired effect. If punishment can be legally inflicted on the identi- 
fiable criminals who may survive the war, well and good ; but tariffs on our 
part will merely penalise ourselves. And, though Germany has no claim to 
charity at our hands, it can hardly be a plan of action for a civilised State to 
set up a fiscal system with the express object of impoverishing her people at 
the cost of proportionally impoverishing our own. We should then be merely 
penalising the wrong people ail round. 

II. 

Thus far, our argument has not taken account of the express declaration 
of President Wilson that after the war, when, as he and we all hope, a League 
of Nations will be set up to maintain for ever the international peace of the 
world, there ought to be no differential tariffs at all. But that declaration 
must be reckoned with ; and it is to be observed that our tarifllsts are in effect 
declaring themselves against it, proposing as they do to begin with Imperial 
preferences, differentiating successively against Allies, Neutrals, and Enemies. 
Some have even proposed to penalise unfriendly as distinguished from friendly 
Neutrals. All this means progressive conflict in policy with our greatest Ally, 
whose advent in the war has determined the triumph of the Allied cause. 

Imperial Preference, 

At the very first step, Imperial Preference, we should be taking up a hostile 
attitude to the States. Many tariffists seem to suppose that we can give pref- 
erence to our Dominions in respect of the manufactured goods we take from 
them. But such manufactures are very small in amount. Of the £12,000,000 
worth of imports so described in the returns for 1913, nearly £10,000,000 worth 
was really semi-manufactured material, as metals, leather, and jute, the 
virtual raw material of great British industries, A preference on the remaining 
imports of fully manufactured goods can be of no value to the trade of the 
Dominions in the lump. If a preference Is to be given by which any con- 
siderable part of their population can profit, it must be, as Mr. Asquith insisted 
from 1903 onwards, upon foodstuffs and raw materials. 

Now, our trade cannot possibly afford duties on raw materials ; and tariffists 
have generally professed to recognise this. Further, Mr. Lloyd George and 
Mr. Bonar Law both declared in April, 1917, that the Imperial Preference 
which the present Government proposes to set up after the war is not to involve 
any taxation of food imports. That, as Mr. Lloyd George justly declared, 
would be an intolerable hardship to the British peopie. Preference, then, 
must be limited to the very small amount of finished manufactures which we 
take from the Dominions, unless, as is to be gathered from certain utterances 
by Canadian statesmen, an advantage is to be conferred upon Canadian trade 
by a system of subsidised shipping. And this, in point of fact, seems to be the 
intention. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 47 

No doubt, relatively cheap freights would be as real an advantage to 
Canadian producers as any that could be conferred by a preferential tariff. 
But it is perfectly obvious that no such advantage will bo allowed to subsist. 
The plain purpose being to help the trade of Canada with Europe as against 
that of the United States, the Government of the United States will infallibly 
protect its trade by the same methods. The moment a British subsidy is given, 
a countervailing American subsidy will follow ; and we shall be embroiled in 
an utterly unprofitable as well as utterly unworthy freight-war with our greatest 
Ally. 

No " Commercial Doles." 

Such a consideration is sufficient to condemn the scheme of freight sub- 
sidies at cnce and for ever. Our gratitude to our Dominions cannot, in any 
case, be fitly expressed by commercial doles, which have the eifeet of putting a 
money price upon services that ought to be regarded as above all price. But 
still less fitly could gratitude to our Dominions be exhibited by & course which 
Haunted ingratitude to our Ally. It appears to be left to Free Traders to remind 
the nation that there are considerations of national honour and decency that 
are not to be measured in trade gains, even were the planned gains practicable. 
Here they are not. 

III. 

It remains to deal with one plea which has of late done much special 
service to the tariff cause — the plea, namely, that the war has shown the 
necessity of safeguarding certain " Key industries " so called. A number of 
industries are more or less vaguely referred to under this heading ; and in the 
exhibition of " New " and " Key " industries lately organised by the tarifflst 
party in London, such products as those of the leather and the rubber industries, 
graphite, mica, steel and other metals, asbestos, and so on, are Included. Thus 
the public are invited to see in golf-balls, sand-shoes, suit-cases, handbags, and 
unbreakable toys, industries that need protecting, while the dye industry is 
represented on the one haad by a variety of chemicals in jars, and on the other 
by ladies' hats, men's hats, flags, large and small, and other articles, " depend- 
ing on dyes.'* 

The '* Key Industries." 

Under that classification might be put the whole textile industries as such. 
It is necessary to put clearly the real issues, here as before. 

1. Industries whose products are essential to munitions, and which 
depend upon imports, may be classed as military industries, and so considered. 
If the Peace is to be worth the War, there ought to be no cause for serious 
concern about military industries as such, when once it is made secure. But, 
to curtail argument, it may be granted that Governments may for some time 
reasonably be on their guard against a reversion to war, and with that object 
may propose to keep on foot all Industrie's which supply military necessities. 

2. There are certain industries, such as that of dye-making, which not 
only yield by-products essential to explosives but supply main products vital to 
great trade industries, for which in the past we were mainly dependent upon 
Germany. It was actually contemplated, when British Dyes, Limited, was 
established early in the war with State aid, that it should be put in a position to 
produce dyes after the war in competition with Germany or any other country. 



48 LIBERAL POLICY. 

To secure the existence of industries of those two classes, it is claimed that 
we must set up protective tariffs. The Free Trade answer is that wherever good 
reason can be shown for the safeguarding of such industries, It ought to be 
done by subsidies, not by tariSs ; or* alternatively, that the State should actually 
run the industries, or at least those which are of a directly military character. 

In the ease of dyes in particular, a protective tariff would be a positively 
ruinous method of safeguarding the industry, The real reason for safeguarding 
it is not that Germany might undersell it but that Germany might, after under- 
selling', refuse to supply in the event of the British industry failing. Not merely 
dyes, but cheap dyes, are vital to our textile trades. To raise the price of 
British dyes by a tariff, while Germany supplied herself and other countries 
with cheaper dyes, would be to throw our trade out of competition with its 
chief rivals. It must have Its dyes at the world price, if not at less. The only 
rational course, then, is to leave the price 'of dyes to be determined by world- 
competition, while subsidising the British industry so long as it may be necessary 
to enable it to hold its ground. 

Subsidies must be closely walehed. 

The same argument holds good in the case of any other Industry which 
can be shown to be essential either to national safety or to the successful 
competition of the great industries. To put a tariff on steel for instance, would 

be to begin the destruction of the British shipbuilding industry, and many 
others. In that ease even subsidies are out of the question. And there mast 
be a strict inquisition as to the need for any State aid in any other ease. The 
claim that graphite and rubber need protecting is not easily intelligible. Our 
supplies of these are in no way controlled by Germany ; and our manufactures 
from them should be able to stand on i'heir own feet. If we are asked for a 
protective tariff on golf-balls, tyres, and other rubber goods, we are entitled 
to know why British manufacturers need help in these cases ; and so with 
magnetos, gas- mantles, and any other articles, "new" or old, in British 
industry. And in any ease, if help is to be given, it must be by subsidy, with a 
strict audit of the books of the concerns subsidised. 

It is sometimes pretended, that tariffs will seesue efficient production and 
that subsidies will not. This is certainly false as a general proposition. The 
notorious ease of the woollen manufactures In the United States — to take a 
notable instance — proved that a large and important industry supported by a 
tariff m a highly progressive eount?y can by reason of that protection become 
backward and inefficient. If subsidies have in the past been paid without 
securing efficiency, the more reason to make efficiency a condition of subsi- 
dising. If producers dislike controlled subsidies so much as to be prepared 
So do without them, so much the better. 

The essential points are (i) ifoat a tariff enriches indefinitely and unwarrant- 
ably those whoso profits it automatically raises, while a proper subsidy gives 
only that amount of aid wnleh can be proved to bs required to maintain the 
given undertaking; and (2) that a tariff,, by raising the price of one article, 
passes ca increases of cost in many directions, while a subsidy does not. The 
tariff injures contingent trade, besides burdening the consumer ; the subsidy 
does not. AM if it be argued tbat a subsidy has to be paid out of State revenue, 
the answer is that that is a very good reason for the closest scrutiny before 
giving any State aid whatever, and for withdrawing it as soon as the aided 
undertaking can stand by Itself ; while on the other hand a tariff,, on.ee Imposed, 



LIBERAL POLICY, 49 

is extremely hard to remove, precisely because there is no way of exactly 
checking either the amount of extortion it unnecessarily inflicts on the public 
or the extent to which reliance upon it makes the beneficiary heedless and 
inefficient 

IV. 

The special pleas made for a resort to tariffs after the war having thus been 
examined and dismissed, it is worth the while of Free Traders to bring out the 
positive side of their case, which in the past has sufficed to retain the allegiance 
of the British majority through half a century of " revivals ' oi protectionist 
propaganda ; and above all during the ten years of unceasing debate which 
preceded the war. 

The Reason for the " Open Door." 

It seems to be always necessary, for one thing, to explain that we did not 
resort to Free Trade by way of deing a good turn to other nations. The ordinary 
conditions of competitive retail trade in peace time, whereunder sellers ask 
the " favour " of being purchased from, tend to encourage the tariffist view 
that when we buy from a foreigner we are doing him a kindness. The trying 
experience of purchasers, especially of food, in war time, has had the educative 
compensation of revealing that the purchaser is really no more favouring than 
favoured. Our " open door " was so set in our own interest, and to our own 
interest it has redounded. We never bought German or any other goods 
because the sellers asked us to " favour " them ; we bought solely beeause we 
were satisfied that it was to our advantage to do so. 

The tariffist claim has always been that in buying from the foreigner we 
were (in general or often) withholding trade and employment from our own 
countrymen. Many times over has it been demonstrated that this is false. 
Unemployment was at its lowest precisely when imports of foreign manufac- 
tures were at their highest. In so far as a few home industries were undersold 
in the home market, their workers were turned to more efficient or more 
profitable production of other kinds. Every imported article was either part 
payment of interest on British investments abroad, or of freights carried by 
British ships, or of insurance with British concerns, or was part of the return 
for British goods exported. And it is nonsense to pretend that home pro- 
ducers could have consumed all the exported goods if theirs had been tafcsn in 
exchange. They could not have consumed the exported British snips and 
locomotives. 

The Question of Unemployment. 

As against the pretence that British unemployment was caused by imports 
of foreign goods, we have, to point to the notorious fact that the greatest trade 
depressions of modern times originated in the highly protected United States, 
an enormous unemployment there giving rise to a less unemployment here, 
while American and other manufactures partially ceased to come in. It was 
lack of employment in manufactures for export that mainly constituted or 
initiated the depression here. 

And while British trade has expanded most rapidly and most triumphantly 
in the very decade in which, before the war, our tarifflsts were maintaining 
that oniy under a tariff could it prosper, the wages of British workmen have 
remained all along the highest in Europe. Before the war, the tariflis 



50 LIBERAL POLICY. 

organisation was assiduous in sending groups of them over to Germany by way 
of showing thorn the superiority of German " Kultur,"but itcould not, even with 
the assistance of conductors warranted to exhibit only what it was convenient 
to show, suppress the vital tacts as to wages, hours of work, and prices ol food 
and clothing. If any lessons were to be learned from German frugality, 
method, education, and organisation, it is to he hoped that our tarifQsts will 
not tail, after the war, to inculcate them. 

But as to the essential facts about German industrial well-being we may 
cite, as tolerably impartial, the testimony of Mr. Gerard, the Ambassador of 
the highly tariffed United States to highly tariffed Germany in the period just 
before .the war. Thus he expresses himself : — 

" The German working man, undoubtedly the most exploited and 
fooled working man in the world, is compelled not only to work tor low 
wages *nd for long hours, but to purchase his food at rates fixed by the 
German tariff, made for the benefit of the Prussian Junkers and landlords." 
(My Four Years in Germany, New York, 1917, p. 269). 
And again : — 

" With the low wages paid to very efficient workmen who worked 
for long hours, and with no laws against combination, it was always a 
matter ol surprise to me that the Germans, who were in the process ot 
getting all the money in the world, should have allowed their military 
autocracy to drive them into war." ( Id. p. 275) 

The Truth about Tariff-protected Trade. 

Here, however, w© must incidentally correct Mr. Gerard at one point, in 
order to get the explanation of which he is in search. The British reader will 
observe that the German workers had a poor time of it under the system which 
our tarifSsts were so eagerly urging our workers to adopt. But the German 
profiteers who exploited them were not in process of getting all the money of 
the world. The vital truth about tariff-protected trade, which it behoves us 
now more than ever to realise, is that it is nationally less profitable than Free 
Trade. ^ .— 

The explanation is simple. The tariff- protected trader makes his profits 
mainly out of his fellow-countrymen. For this very reason, he is, as a rule, 
ready to sell cheaper abroad than at home ; he must often do so in order to 
get a footing in foreign, markets, especially in Free Trade markets. The tariff 
raises his costs of production, and his fellow-countrymen must pay to enable 
him to sell at lower rates abroad. Thai is how the tarifllst watchword of 
" making the foreigner pay " really worts out in practice, and how it would 
work with us if we tried it. The residual fact is that the profit accruing to the 
nation is less under tariffs than under free imports. 

And that, probably, is why the German trading class were in the main 
willing participators in the war — for they were certainly not in general opposed 
to it. Their trade was not so profitable as they had wished it to be ; the whole 
finance oi the nation was in consequence speculative and precarious. Down 
till the other day, they were all hoping against hope to find relief in the indem- 
nities they had counted upon extorting from the Allies. 

The Wealth-earning power of Free Trade. 
The superior wealth-earning power of Free Trade is very practically 
demonstrated by the war finance of Britain, Besides raising enormous loans, 



LIBERAL POLICY. 51 

and financing every one of her European Allies, she has raised by frc-sh taxation 
an annual excess revenue which Germany could not dream of trying to obtain. 
British Free Trade has built up a population far more capable than the German 
of bearing new taxation and lending to the State. With fifty per cent, more of 
population, Germany was much less strong financially. 

When tariffisis retort that the protected United States, in turn, has 
financially aided us, they in effect complete their own confutation. The 
United States, with nearly thrice our population, has twenty times our natural 
resources, and constitutes the main part of a vast continent, as against our 
little islands. And that great Commonwealth, with its enormous territory, 
its immense resources in coal and iron, in food production, in its yield of cotton 
and tobacco, against which we have no competing produce, whatever, is the 
only State in tbe world to which our protectionists can point as having greater 
financial weight than the little British Islands have accumulated under Free 
Trade. 

V. 

There is one more word to be said on the moral side of the matter. Presi- 
dent Wilson, a Free Trader, is now appealing to the civilised world to seek, 
under the League of Nations, a system of trade relations under which, whether 
with or without a tariff, each shall treat the others alike. Hitherto, it was 
Britain who above all other nations, Holland alone excepted, gave th© world 
the object lesson of the Open Door, putting import duties solely for revenue 
purposes, thus injuring no competitor in her own markets, since excises were 
levied where the articles taxed were such as, or substitutes for, articles we 
produced at home. To that extent, Britain has wrought for international 
peace and good-will. 

The Neutrals and Free Trade. 

The war has shown whether she gained or lost fey It on the human side ; 
whether Free Trading Britain or tariffed Germany had most friends in the 
world. Among the friends of Britain are many Neutrals who look to her to 
keep flying the flag of Free Trade, which they would fain see put up in their 
own countries. To them, the news of a tariffM ** revival " in Britain during 
the war has been a bad hearing. It is folly to say that they profited by our 
Free Trade, and want to do so in future ; no one of the Neutrals can hope to 
compete in wealth with Britain in this epoch. They looked to Britain as the 
unyielding champion of a great ideal, the ideal of internationalism. 

It is the Sag of the contrary ideal, " not internationalism but nationalism," 
as Mr. Hughes puts it ; nationalism, that is to say, in trade, that we are now 
being invited by our tariffisis to run to the mast-head. They call upon us to 
penalise our Allies, to flout the appeal of President Wilson to the nations, to 
proclaim that we are concerned first and last about " our own kith and kin " , 
this after the war of wars, in which France has unfalteringly stood by our 
side, bleeding but invincible, and the American Republic, surely part of our 
kith and kin, has come to our succour with a magnificent generosity of com- 
radeship, not to be outshone by even the noble fraternity of our own Dominions. 

To what end ? If it could be shown that it would pay us to forswear 
ourselves, we might still shrink from the course. But, as we have seen, it 
would not pay us but plunder us. There is " no money in it/' either for us or 
our kith and kin. It is with a hope of gain, certainly, that the course is urged ; 



52 LIBERAL POLICY. 

but so far as the interest sought is a national one, the hope is the illusion of 
men who have never shown themselves competent to handle fiscal problems. 
The one kind of gain possible is the individual or class gain of the tarifiist 
profiteer, the kind of gain that was made by the tarifflsts of Germany, mainly at 
the expense of their own people, and with the results to civilisation that we now 
see. 

Dangers of new Commercial War. 

Noting the omens, we call upon our people to refuse the sinister tribute 
that it is thus proposed to pay to German ideals. Our own were better before the 
war. They must remain better after it. Not a word of rational argument has 
been advanced to the contrary. And if, defying rational argument, we allow 
ourselves to be driven by our own profiteers into a new commercial war with 
the rest of the world, there is a fair prospect that Germany, forced by sheer 
hunger to abandon her food duties, and led by her plain interest to cultivate 
the best possible trade relations with all other countries, will step into our place 
and policy, and become the free-trading industrial nation of Europe. 

In that case, any harm we could hope to inflict upon her by withholding 
from her the raw materials of the Empire, as is proposed by Mr. Hughes, would 
amount to nothing. Mr. Hughes's policy, which he proposes to apply to our 
Allies as well as to Germany, would result in our being refused the raw materials 
(such as cotton) which we required to buy from the rest of the world while a 
free-trading Germany would soon have that universal access to raw materials 
which we have had in the past. 

From such a ruinous reversal of the national positions, undoing by folly 
in peace all the gains of all the years of war, it is the business of the Liberal 
party to save our State. 



VII.— IRELAND. 

By the Most Hon. the Marquess of Crewe, K.G. 



There are many social and industrial questions which cry out lor prompt 
action by Parliament as soon as may be, when the mind of the country is again 
composed, and when labour and material are once more freely available. But 
the problem of the future government of Ireland stands by itself. Its solution 
does not in the same way hinge upon restoration of the material conditions 
that attend peace. The war may have made it in some directions easier, and 
in some others harder ; but peace will not of itself promote even such a tem- 
porary or partial settlement as twice during war-time has seemed to be within 
our sight, though never positively within our grasp. The dangers of continued 
failure to conquer the difficulty, indeed of further delay in facing it, are too 
obvious to need emphasis here. 

Home Rule in fact Secure. 

The future is conditioned, nobody must be allowed to forget, by the existence 
of the Government of Ireland Act of 1914. It is, therefore, unnecessary now 
even to summarise the familiar historical and practical arguments which 
combine to make the case for Irish self-government so overwhelming ; Home 
Rule is in fact secure, and only its exact application remains uncertain, because 
of the narrow and sometimes arrogant opposition of the extremists in the 
North-Eastern counties of Ulster. That opposition, as we all remember, was 
in full blast in the spring and summer before the war, and played a definite 
part in encouraging the German belief that England would be impotent to join 
in repelling her shameful world-policy of aggression. 

On the other hand, the Liberal Government then in power never contem- 
plated the use of what would now be called " Prussian " methods to enforce a 
political reform in Ireland. Indeed, so long as there was no repetition of the 
violence which had disgraced Belfast in 1886, the Irish Government, knowing 
that the fears of Protestant Ulster were genuinely and keenly aroused — though 
with small justification -desired to overlook much that was provocative, and 
even inimical to law and order. The situation was full of difficulty , but as 
events proved, the example of defiance found plenty of imitators in a country 
where Government has for generations been the warder, rather than the leader, 
of opinion ; and in less than two years Fenianism attained a growth which it 
had not known for just half a century. For this it is impossible not to hold 
the Orange extremists partly responsible; some Unionists, as we shall see, 
were prepared to advance on a more excellent way. 

The Liberal Party's Conciliatory Policy. 

But at that time, as since, the Liberal Party desired, and its leaders at- 
tempted, to meet the other side as far as could be without compromising the 



54 LIBERAL POLICY. 

cause of Irish Nationalism, of whose justice they had Jong been convinced. 
The Amending Bill of June, 1914, whieh offered option to any Ulster county to 
stand out of the general scheme for sis years at any rate, failed because the 
House of Lords, following the extreme Ulstsr rather than the general Unionist 
view, insisted on the permanent exclusion of the whole of that Province and on 
its government from England. The Conference at Buckingham Palace, 
summoned as the final chance for an agreed settlement, broke down after four 
days on a similar question o! the area of exclusion. 

Then came the war, and the swamping of all other interests and causes ; 
the main Bill became an Act, unamended but marked down for amendment. 
Ireland carriod on, and Irish regiments played their customary parts in the 
forefront of many battles. Easter, 1916, saw the lamentable Sinn Fein rising 
in Dublin, coupled with the abortive landing from Germany of the traitor 
Casement. The reanimated Irish Republican Brotherhood —which had lingered 
on obscurely through the agrarian agitation, in which it never showed promin- 
entia as an organisation — now inspired with new vigour by a youthful 
and intellectual element, had lifted its head with a vengeance. 

The loss of life and damage to property were considerable, and in other 
times would have been thought very large. It is only fair to observe that the 
outbreak was put down with greater leniency than would have been displayed 
in any other country, either of the Old or of the New World, In the parallel 
event of a national rising ; but it is equally true that the execution of some of 
the leaders has rankled in the minds of many Irishmen not themselves sympa- 
thetic with active rebellion. After it was over it was hit that the air might be 
cleared, and that, as was said in the House of Commons, there was " a unique 
opportunity for settling difficulties.' 

The Policy of Exclusion. 

Mr. Lloyd George's recognised capacity for conciliation and his powers of 
persuasion were brought into play amid almost universal approval. His 
conclusion, which it is important to note was accepted by both the Nationalists 
and Unionists oi Ulster, involved the immediate inception of Home Rule, 
except for the four Protestant counties of Down, Antrim, Londonderry, and 
Armagh, with the more disputable areas ©f Tyrone and Fermanagh, all of 
whieh were to be excluded daring the war and lor twelve months afterwards. 
A speech in the House of Lords by Lord Lansdowne, then a Cabinet Minister, 
was considered by the Nationalists to be minatory in tone, and did not clear the 
atmosphere; but the scheme finally collapsed through a dispute over the 
retention of the Irish members in the House of Commons. Mr. Lloyd George 
had suggested their remaining in full force; but the Unionist Ministers held 
that the intervention of a Genera? Election might thus give Ireland undue 
weight in determining the future of the United Kingdom after her own represen- 
tation in the House of Commons was reduced, and they declined to assent. 

It is abundantly evident that the policy of exclusion, as it is called, in Itself 
has, and deserves to have, but few friends. It has always been disliked by the 
Unionists of the rest of Ireland, for obvious reasons ; and Lord Lansdowne, who 
was for long their principal spokesman, has often mentioned it with aversion. 
Even the Ulster Protestants, for whose comfort it is designed, regard it as an 
unhappy makeshift ; while the speeches of Nationalists abound in reprobation 
of any such plan. " A unit," saM Mr. John Redmond in 1913, " Ireland is, 
and must remain, and we can never assent to any proposal which would create 



LIBERAL POLICY. 55 

a sharp eternal dividing line between Irish Catholic and Irish Protestant ' ; 
but there is virtue in the word " eternal," and some may think that the experi- 
ment of 1916 might have been accepted by Nationalist Ireland even in its less 
favourable later form. 

The advantage of seeing Home Role in actual operation would have 
counted for much, both in dissipating honest fears, and in quenching the 
extravagant hopes of separatist Sinn Feiners ; and believers In the officacy of 
self-government will be slow to credit the six counties with lasting resistance to 
reunion after witnessing the actual working of the machine, and thus better 
appreciating the nature of the civic safeguards needed, or conceivably needed, 
to secure their special interests. 

The Question of Compulsory Service- 
Meanwhile a new disturbing element became apparent in Irish affairs. 
In the early Autumn of 1916 the application of compulsory service to Ireland 
began to be mooted, as some thought less in hope of securing a large number 
of recruits than as a penalty for disloyalty and unrest in parts of the country. 
But in a land of small farms many exemptions from service would fairly be 
claimed, while in rural Ireland it was clearly impossible to set up local tribunals 
to adjudicate on such cases. Apart from this, the idea of conscription was 
repulsive to Ireland fsr several reasons. The deplorable failure of the War 
Office to hail and encourage the Srst burst of enthusiasm for voluntary recruiting 
in Ireland was sorrowfully admitted here, not least by Mr. Lloyd George in the 
House of Commons on the 18th October, 1916. 

Compulsion for any purpose is little liked in Ireland, and was deemed 
specially unfair when the population had dwindled through the emigration ©f 
so much of its young manhood during years of British administration. Lastly, 
the principle of nationality was invoked in support of free choice for one division 
of the United Kingdom in such a matter. But none the less the abstention 
of some of the youth of Ireland at such a crisis was publicly deplored by 
Mr. John Redmond and other Nationalist leaders, and by their British Mends. 
This was not England's quarrel, it was felt, but a world-flght for justice, and 
against such tyranny as was shown by the martyrdom of Belgium ; so that it 
would not do for Irishmen to pass by on the other side. 

The example of such men as Major William Redmond and Professor 
Kettle, has indeed inspired many, and has set the devotion of Irishmen beyond 
the reach of reproach. But the policy of compulsory service, closely linked to 
the denial of Home Rule, has indeed proved to bs a ghastly mistake, and it is 
difficult to understand how it ever was contemplated. That the quota of 
soldiers from Ireland remains far short of that from the other three divisions 
of the United Kingdom is partly due to different conditions of life, but more to 
the action of British Governments in the past. In a real sense Ireland may be 
said to be the loser now ; but it does not Ho with us to apportion the blame 
against her. 

The Irish Convention. 
1917 saw a new effort to grapple with the enigma. It had been asked 
several times of late years, by public men of authority, ", Why not encourage 
Irishmen to come to terms among themselves, with no British interference ? " 
Accordingly, in May of that year, after the refusal by the Nationalists of a 
different exclusion proposal, an Irish Convention was formed, representative of 



58 LIBERAL POLICY. 

all classes and parties, except that Sinn Fein declined to join, and Mr. William 
O'Brien's small section stood aloof. The simultaneous release of the Sinn 
Fein prisoners excited much Unionist criticism, and, though a necessary 
feature in a policy of conciliation, it did nothing to win over those who bene- 
fited by it. 

.When, early in the following year, the Convention,, of which Sir Horace 
Plunkett was the sympathetic, and broad-minded Chairman, issued a Report 
which, while it indicated the hopes of the majority, made evident the existence 
of de»p-rootcd divergencies, it appeared that the policy of excluding the North- 
Eastern counties over a longer or shorter period did not this time commend 
itself to the majority. Home Rule was to fee universal, but elaborate ear® was 
taken by special representation, and a multiplication of cheeks, to safeguard 
Ulster from any possible abuse of power by Dublin. But Ulster was not eon- 
ciliated, and since the Government did not take any action on the Report, the 
Convention, in a technical sense, broke down. 

But it would be unfair to regard it as having, in essenc®, failed. The 
association through many months of Irishmen of all sorts and of ail views, 
clerics and laymen, in an atmosphere of serious discussion and earnest 
goodwill, in itself marked a new epoch. The establishment of mutual respect 
between opponents, and some better understandings, have survived the closing 
of the Convention, and will bear fruit in days to come. Many Home Rulers 
exhibited an accommodating and sympathetic temper. Some of the more 
moderate Unionists displayed a welcome readiness to examine fresh facts, 
and to modify ancient conclusions. The Report, though not strictly a majority 
document, showed far closer agreement, than has ever existed before In Irish 
polities, and it is deeply to be regretted that it was not at once, while the iron 
was hot, welded into the shape of a Bill and rapidly forced into iaw„ Very 
likely this was not easy. Whatever may be the advantages in war time of 
a composite Government, it is certain to flinch from bold action at home on 
any issue whereby party passions are stirred. 

A Policy Essential 

But a policy there must be, and it cannot remain long undeclared. Mark- 
ing time cannot be a permanent occupation, even when it takes the form of 
appointing a famous Field Marshal as Viceroy, to strike awe into Sinn Fein, 
accompanied by a Liberal Chief Secretary who refuses to abandon faith in 
Home Rule. Our rulers, therefore, must do something soon, and the obstacles 
will not look any the smaller by waiting and gazing at them. Inaction en- 
courages the smaller and really dangerous element in Sinn Fein, and turns 
in its direction the far larger number who do not want to rebel, but who do 
not entertain the faintest sympathy or sentiment for England. It endangers 
the hope of cordial co-operation in a free but real union, the hope which has 
inspired many Irishmen in the war, and in which soma of them have given 
their lives. 

Lastly, with the Irish riddle still unsolved, what sort of figure shall we 
cut when we take our part in re-making the map of Europe ? It will be idle 
for us to point to our admirable intentions during the last fifty years, to Church 
Acts and Land Purchase Acts, and to bursts of sympathetic administration. 
The black fact remains that Ireland is not contented, and that she has been 
on the edge of rebellion. It is the business of statesmen to succeed, as it is 
the business of Generals in the field to succeed, not to point out the difficulties 



LIBERAL POLICY. 57 

that make them fail. And in this particular business of determining for 
Europe the proper limits of national development and of separate or auto- 
nomous government, oar representatives will go into council stamped with 
our national failure. 

The Federal Solution, 

It only remains to say a word on what is called the Federal Solution, 
" Home R'jSs all round " has attracted many political thinkers, including 
some unimpeachable Liberals, such as Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. It 
has been uniformly disliked by Irish Nationalists for reasons which will appear 
in a moment. The difficulties are. familiar . It is hard to see how th« English 
Parliament can in effect be anything hut the Imperial Parliament, 
all the more as we now know that there is little sympathy in the 
Dominions with the idea of their sending elected representatives to an Assembly 
in London. But en one point we must be perfectly clear, and on it we must 
insist, namely that it is not necessary for the establishment of a Federal system 
that the powers and functions of the bodies representing the several members 
,©i the Federation should be identical. Ireland is a nation; so is Wales; 
and both are nations in exactly the same sense that Brittany or Gascony or 
Lombardy are nations, But their histories entirely differ, as do their present 
aspirations. 

The Lombard longs to see his Italian brethren beyond the frontier joined 
with him in union ; the Irishman asks for a National Parliament \ the 
Welshman may or may not in time ask for a parliamentary Assembly, but 
if he does it may not be one possessing the powers rightly permitted to an 
Irish Parliament, from the past history and present situation of Ireland. 
This, of course, is why Irish Nationalists suspect the Federal solution. It 
may be made the excuse for blurring the identity of Ireland, under a plea 
of necessary uniformity, and for cutting down her fair claims to a 
minimum. It behoves all friends of Irish self-government to be on their 
guard against a manoeuvre which is sure to be ingenious, and may be 
formidable. Deal with Ireland lirst, then by all means institute Home Rule 
all round, if the country desires it, and it is shown to be practicable. But 
the Irish difficulty cannot wait, and every week and month as they pass 
harden the temper of extremists on both sides, and discourage that body of 
central opinion through which alone a solution of the problem is tc be 
found. 



VIII.- CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS. 
By the Rt, Hon. Herbert Samuel, M.P. 



The sstablisament of Payment of Members and the passing of the 
Representation of the People Act have removed many of the political reforms 
for which the Liberal Party has contended from the list of proposals to its 
long list q! achievements. But others remain. The double representation 
in Parliament of persons who have passed through the Universities still 
continues. The University seats have not only survived under the recent 
redistribution ; they have been increased in number. Multiple voting and 
the ownership vote have been abolished ; but dual voting remains. A person 
who lives in one constituency and has his business in another, has votes both 
for his residence and his business premises. A working-man who lives in one 
constituency and who works in another, is aiSowed only one vote. The 
workman is assumed to have no special interest in the place where he spends 
his days, or in the industry with which his life is identified, that would qualify 
him to share in electing a representative in Parliament ; while the professional 
or business man, because he occupies particular oilice premises, is held to be 
entitled to a double citizenship. This is a class privilege which cannot 
permanently endure. But both the dual vote and the continuance of 
University representation were elements in the compromise arrived at in the 
Speaker's Conference. So also was the arbitrary age limit of thirty attached 
to the enfranchisement of women, in order to obviate a majority of women 
over men in the electorate. These were the chief items in the price paid to 
secure an agreed Bill. In order to obtain the enactment at once, and by 
general consent, of many reforms which had long been the subject of keen 
controversy, the price was worth the paying. In accordance with the spirit 
of the arrangement then agreed to, these questions cannot be re-opened now. 



The Alternative Vote. 

The iiiis-representation of constituencies in Parliament stands on a 
different footing. Both the Alternative Vote and Proportional Representa- 
tion wore excepted from tha general agreement submitted by the Govern- 
ment to Parliament, and were left open for its decision, and both failed to 
secure its assent. Under our electoral law as It is now left, where more than 
two candidates stand in a constituency, a member who is supported by only 
a minority of She electorate, who may be m the highest degree distasteful to 
the great majority, may nevertheless be elected. He will vote in Parliament on 
the main questions of the day in a sense which h«$ knows, and the constituency 
knows, to be contrary to the wishes of the greater number of the electors. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 59 

This form of minority rule is contrary to the first principles of democracy. 
It "impairs the authority of the House of Commons. It, stands out conspic- 
uously as the chief blemish that still remains in the British system of Parlia- 
mentary representation. The removal of it is recognised to be one of the 
leading aims of-the Liberal policy of constitutional reform. 

In the debates on the Representation of the People Bill, almost the 
whole of the Liberal Party in both Houses supported the Alternative Vote as 
the remedy. Many advocated Proportional Representation for the larger 
boroughs, and the Alternative Vote elsewhere. Some would have preferred, 
ft not at once, at least as an xiltimate asm, the adoption of Proportioual 
Representation in all the constituencies. But on these points there was no 
unanimity, The National Liberal Federation, at its meetings at Manchester in 
September, 1918. made no pronouncement on Proportional Representation. 
It declared unanimously in iavour of the Alternative Vote. 

Under that system the elector is allowed not only to vote for the candidate 
he wishes to see elected, but also to state on the ballot-paper whom he would 
prefer, as between the remaining candidates, if his own candidate is at the 
bottom of the poll. If there are three candidates at the election, he may 
write the number 1 against his first choice, and, if he wishes, if he has a 
preference as between the others, he may write the number 2 against his second 
choice. When the votes are counted, thoy are first divided among the three 
candidates, regard being had only to the " ones M marked on the papers, 
and no attention being paid, at that stage, to the " two's." The candidates 
are then arranged according to the result so ascertained ; and the one who is 
third on the list is regarded as having Uen rejected by the constituency and 
is eliminated from the contest. The balSot-papers of his supporters are then 
examined, in order to ascertain what their wishes are in the event which has 
actually occurred, namely that their candidate has been defeated and that 
a choice has to be made between the other two. Some of those ballot-papers 
would, no doubt, indicate no second preference. A proportion of the voters, 
if they cannot elect their own man, would support no other. Those papers 
which do indicate a second preference are divided between the remaining 
candidates according as the number 2 is against the name of the one or the 
other. The totals so reached are added to tbe polls of those two candidates 
as ascertained on the first count, and the one who then secures the majority 
is declared elected. If there are more than three candidates, the voters 
may indicate by numbers more than two preferences, and there will be more 
than two countings of the votes. But the principle and the process are the 

same. 

In fact, the method is much the same as that of the Second 'Ballot, 
widely adopted in European countries. Where that system is in force, 
and more than two candidates stand, the electox-s go to the poll on the first 
election day and vote for whichever cf the several candidates they please. 
The votes are counted, and the two candidates who receive the highest 
number are put up for election on a subsequent day, usually a week later ; 
the others are eliminated, and the second pell decides between the two. 
The method is open to several objections, particularly the trouble involved 
by two polling flays. The Alternative Vote compresses the process into a 
single poll, and enables the elector, at one and the same time, to vote both in 
the First Ballot and in the Second. It is fairer also where there are four 
candidates or more for a single seat. 



60 LIBERAL POLICY- 

It has its defects. Ingenuity may pick holes in it. But— apart from 
'• P.R.," which has drawbacks of its own — it is the best method yet devised 
for preventing the election of the candidate least desired by the constituency, 
through the disunion of his opponents. Such was the conclusion reached by 
the Royal Commission on Electoral Systems of 1910, which consisted of 
men of all parties, which made a careful enquiry into the methods adopted 
In this and other countries, and which, unanimously, made one, and only 
one, definite recommendation — in favour of the adoption of the Alternative 
Vote. The Speaker's Conference, by a majority, arrived at the same con- 
elusion. The House of Commons adopted it in the Representation of the 
Peopie Bill, but by the narrow margin of one vote ; the matter having been 
made a party issue, the provision was struck out by the House of Lords ; for 
the Commons to have insisted upon its re-insertion would have involved the 
loss of the Bill. The country is left in the situation, therefore, that, where- 
ever there are more than two candidates, a Minority Member may be elected. 
It will be the duty of the Liberal Party, in the interest of sound democratic 
government, at the earliest practicable moment, to remedy this grave abuse. 

Ministers and Parliament, 

During the war many new methods have been adopted, hitherto unknown 
to the Constitution. Among them has been the appointment as Ministers, 
in one or two cases, of men who were not, and who did not become, members 
of either House of Parliament. In the exigencies of the moment this innova- 
tion was tolerated, but the nation is not likely to allow it to become a normal 
practice in time of peace. It had hitherto been, and should in future remain, 
one of the root principles of our system of self-government, that every 
Minister of the Crown should be personally accountable to Parliament, and 
should be present there to answer questions on his administration and to 
give such explanations as occasion may require. To that doctrine, the 
National Liberal Federation, at the meeting to which reference has been 
made, gave its unqualified assent. 

It declared also that no " Treaty or vital understanding with other 
countries " ought to be entered into at the sole discretion of the Executive, 
or be operative until ratified by Parliament. This reform also the Liberal 
Party will, I believe, use its utmost efforts to secure. 

Although they have not yet been under consideration either by Liberal 
members in Parliament or by Liberal organisations in the country, perhaps 
I may be allowed to invite attention to the unanimous recommendations of 
the Select Committee on National Expenditure in their Report of October, 
1918, on the Procedure of the House of Commons on matters of finance. Those 
recommendations have as their chief purpose the strengthening of Parlia- 
mentary control over the action of the Executive. They propose the appoint- 
ment of two Standing Committees on Estimates, with the addition of a 
third, if experience should show it to be desirable ; those Committees 
between them would consider each year the Departmental estimates sub- 
mitted to Parliament and report upon them to the House — not touching 
questions of polfcy, which aro matters for the House as a whole. They 
propose also that any Bills involving expenditure should be accompanied 
by definite estimates of the amount of the liability, unless the conditions of 
a particular case render this impracticable, and that those estimates should 



LIBERAL POLICY. 61 

be submitted to the Committees. It is recommended that the Estimates 
Committees should be assisted by an Officer of the House, independent of 
the Government, with the title of Examiner of Estimates. And, not least 
important, it is Urged that when proposals o! the Committees for economies 
in expenditure come before the House for decision, they should not be treated 
as involving the question of confidence or no-confidence in the Government 
of the day, but that Members should be free to vote upon the merits of the 
particular issue. The present practice regards any defeat in the House of 
Commons of a Government proposal, large or small, important or unimportant, 
on an estimate, a resolution, or the clause of a Bill, as a censure on the Ad- 
ministration, and as involving perhaps its resignation or a dissolution of 
Parliament. Such a practice renders independence of action on the part 
of Members impossible. The smaller issue of the particular case is inevitably 
swamped and sunk by the larger issue of maintaining the Government. For 
my own part I feel convinced that until this convention — of modern grow th 
in its present extreme form— is modified, by some definite declaration on 
the part both of the Government of the day and of the House, the proper 
authority of Parliament in its relations with the Executive cannot be 
effectively restored. 

Devolution.* 

The House of Commons before the war was notoriously over-burdened 
with business. Afterwards, with a great volume of reconstruction work 
crowding upon it, it is likely to prove a formidable obstacle to the passage 
of the many reforms which the nation so earnestly desires. Our Parliament 
has, indeed, been set a task too vast and too complex for any single legislature 
to perform with success. 

It has tadw the work of a Parliament of the Empire — to deal with foreign 
affairs, -defence, India, the Crown Colonies and Protectorates. It has to 
do the work of a Parliament of the United Kingdom — to control ail the 
matters of common Interest to the United Kingdom. And it has to pass 
local legislation for England, tor Wales, for Scotland and for Ireland. 

The United States, with a population of a hundred millions, has its 
law-making done by one fedaral legislature and forty-eight State legislatures. 
Germany, with a population of sixty-six millions, had its law-making dene by 
one Imperial legislature, six State legislatures and a number of lesser authori- 
ties. Canada, with a population of eight millions, has one federal and nine 
provincial legislatures ; Australia, with a population of five millions, has 
one federal and six State legislatures. The United Kingdom, with a popula- 
tion of forty-five millions and an Empire covering a fifth of the globe, leaves 
a single Parliament to struggle as best it can with the streams of legislation, 
important and trivial, agreed or controversial, which come to it unceasingly 
from every point of the compass. The task is hopeless. 

It is seldom realised how large a part of our legislation is of a local 
character. In the ten years 1901-1910—1 have seen no later figures — the 
Parliament of the United Kingdom passed 458 public Acts. Of these no 
more than 252 applied to the whole of the United Kingdom. Ths remainder, 



* These paragraphs reproduco s«me passages In a book by the present writer, " The War and 
Liberty" (Published by Horider & Stoughton, December, 1917). 



62 LIBERAL POLICY. 

208 — between a third and a hall — applied either to England and Wales 
alone or to Scotland alone, or to Ireland alone, or to two of them. 

The United Kingdom being more compact in area than the United 
States, or Canada, or Australia,, has not, for that reason, the same need 
that they have for the multiplicity of Parliaments to which I have referred. 
But on the other hand, historical conditions have led to a greater diversity 
within the area of the State than exists in their case, and in that respect; 
the m®& is greater. Scotland and Ireland have in fact their own Executives ; 
tiaeir own Ministers, their own Education Departments, Local Government 
Boards, Boards of Agriculture. They have their own Law Officers and 
judiciaries. They have their own codes of land laws, liquor laws, poor 
laws, ecclesiastical laws. It is only the legislature which is unitary. One 
unhappy A Pariiament has to struggle, as best it can, to supervise and to 
keep up to date all these local systems, as well as the common concerns of 
the United Kingdom as a whole. In matters of land, liquor, education and 
Church, Wales also has problems of her own and legislation of her own. 
Here is one of the chief sources of our Parliamentary troubles. Yon cannot 
drive— to quote the old saying — four coaches abreast through Temple Bar. 
And what happened to Temple Bar, which could not take four coaches 
abreast ? Temple Bar was pulled down. It was picturesque ; it was full 
of historical interest ; but it was incompatible with the requirements of 
modern traffic, and it disappeared. The obstruction to the Parliamentary 
traffic must go as well. 

It Is no longer a question of yielding, whether graciously or reluctantly, 
to the demands of the national sentiment of Ireland and Scotland and Wales, 
We have come to the pass when we must implore the Irish, the Scotch and 
the Welsh to be good enough to take away their local business. We can no 
longer cope with it. As a consequence English business, must be devolved 
on to another assembly as well. There will be ample work for the constant 
attention of these local legislatures and their executives r agricultural 
development, land reclamation, afforestation, town planning, housing, 
health, education, liquor control — the list is far from exhaustive. There 
will remain to the ancient central Parliament questions of commerce, in- 
dustry, communications, finance. There will remain to it the control of 
defence, international relations, Imperial issues. There will remain the 
management of all tho mass of miscellaneous questions which cannot be 
devolved. 

The machinery of the State is a century old. It is incapable of dealing 
with the needs of the time. The plant must be modernised. Only when 
this is done will there be a fair prospect that that part of the task of recon- 
sbfuction which demands action by Parliament can be handled with the 
necessary expedition and care. 

The Second Chamber. 

It is impossible for the Liberal Party to acquiesce indefinitely in the 
existing situation with respect to the House of Lords. The mediaeval con- 
stitution of that House is a standing contradiction to tho democratic principle. 
Unrepresentative, unprogressive, dominated by the narrowest class interest, 
its influence, so far as it is exercised, is a constant drag on the healthy de- 
velopment of the national life.. The Parliament Act, valuable as a breach 



LIBERAL POLICY. 63 

in the walls through which the forces of reform may enter, is not, and has 
never purported to be, a final settlement. An arrangement which allows 
Conservative measures to pass into law in a single session of Parliament,, 
while Liberal measures may be exposed to all the uncertainties of political 
weather during three Sessions, is neither consistent with fairness in the con- 
stitution nor conducive to the smooth accomplishment of necessary change. 

The House of Lords in its present form cannot survive. Its own members 
have been brought, however reluctantly, to recognise that. What is to 
replace it ? 

Liberal opinion, and the opinion of the Labour Party as well, Inclines 
against one proposal, which has had its advocates from time to time — the 
direct election of a Senate, by the same electorate as the House of Commons, 
but by much larger constituencies, and, perhaps, by the method of Propor- 
tional Representation. They incline against it largely because it 3s believed 
that the labour and cost of contesting vast constituencies would give a great 
advantage to wealth, no matter what attempts were made by law to limit 
expenses ; that, in consequence, such a Senate would always be Conserva- 
tive in tendency, while the method of its election would lead it to claim 
an authority equal to, or even greater than, that of the House of Commons. 

There are two alternatives which are more calculated to command sup- 
port. If the constitution of the United Kingdom is re-modelled on a federal 
basis, the precedent of other federations may perhaps be followed, and the 
Second Chamber of the Central Parliament be made to represent, in such 
proportions as may be decided, the several national units. Our Senate, 
on this plan, would consist of representatives of England, Scotland, Ireland 
and Wales, chosen perhaps by their Parliaments, and cementing, by their 
union in one body, the cohesion of the whole. To this, however, the objec- 
tion would be raised by some that the local Assemblies would themselves 
be elected to deal with the local questions entrusted to them ; that their 
representatives would he inspired by that spirit ; and that a strong and large- 
minded Second Chamber would not be likely to be the outcome. 

The other proposal is indirect election through the House of Commons. 
After each general election the new House, divided perhaps into large 
geographical groups for the purpose, would elect the whole of the Second 
Chamber, or, it may be, a half of it, the other half being chosen by the next 
House of Commons. This principle was the foundation of the scheme proposed 
by the recent Conference on the Reform of the Second Chamber presided 
over by Lord Bryce. Their recommendations provided that about three- 
fourths of a reformed Chamber should consist of persons elected by panels of 
Members of the House of Commons, organised on a geographical basis. It 
is of interest to recall, also, that even the House of Lords Reconstitution 
Bill, introduced in 1911 by Lord Lansdowne and his political friends, provided 
that one-third of the new mixed body which it contemplated should be 
selected by electoral colleges consisting of Members of the House of Commons. 

The leaders and the organisations of the Liberal Party have not yet 
formulated a definite plan for the constitution of a new Second Chamber. 
But they will be agreed, I think, on this — that whatever its composition, 
its powers should not iuciude an absolute veto upon legislative proposals. 
Whether by provisions on the general lines of the Parliament Act, or by the 
method of Joint sittings of both Houses which has been adopted in recent 
Dominion constitutions, or by the more elaborate devices suggested by the 



64 LIBERAL POLICY. 

JBryce Conference, a method must foe devised! for resolving deadlocks. The 
democratic forces in this country will never risk the renewal of the delays, the 
friction, the bitter conflicts, which were the consequence of th<& right of final 
veto that belonged to the old House of Lords. To require a general election, 
or a referendum — and a referendum would involve all the labour and expense 
of a general election — in order to decide each case of disagreement, would 
be In appearance, indeed, a recognition of the sovereignty of the people. In 
practice it would wears the electorate with too constant controversy, would 
remit to them questions of comparative detail more proper for th© legislature 
to decide^ and would result, in the long run, in the Second Chamber 
establishing an axcessiv® control over the actions of the First, 

These are the chief problems which await the hand of Liberalism in the 
spheFe of constitutional reform. They are of great, importance ; but their 
solution is important not as an end in itself, but as a means to an end. These 
are questions ©1 political machinery, and machinery does not er.ist for its 
own sake, but for the sake of its products. The long process of democratic 
reform has, indeed, its own direct value, it enables the citizen to feel in its 
fulness the prid^ of liberty. He is a free man ; that is his status ; he shares 
equally with th© rest is the government of his country ; and the very fact 
adds a dignity to hiss life. But beyond this, the franchise, a democratic 
Parliament, are tools placed in his hand. With them he saa shape legislation 
and administration ; he can employ the vast powers of Law to improve his 
environment, to enlarge his opportunities, to protect himself from the crushing 
pressure of an economic system that overwhelms him. Political reform is 
the means, but social reform is the end. The ultimate purpose of modern 
Liberalism is there. 



IX.— WOMEN'S QUESTIONS. 
By Mrs. Runciman. 



The granting of the Parliamentary suffrage to women has altered the 
aspect of their political activities. The great women's question has been 
answered, the outstanding grievance has been removed, and Liberal women 
(except those who come under the age limit, a restriction which can only be 
temporary) are now able to join as full citizens in the responsibilities and 
opportunities of active work for the administrative and legislative reforms 
which it is the special object of the Liberal Party to secure. Women need 
no longer regard themselves as outside of the nation's political life ; they are 
part of it in a new sense. 

Liberalism's Appeal to Women. 

It always was the claim of the political woman suffragist that she 
desired the vote for no selfish end, but in order that women might contribute 
their own special knowledge and experience to the common stock, and supply 
the necessary complement to a true democratic government. As long as 
she was a political outcast, she was forced into the position of special advocate 
for her own causes, until her essential right was granted. Now all this has 
changed, and the time has gone by when there is any necessity to label any 
set of problems as women's questions. It is true that there are still some 
inequalities as between men and women, and some grievances which women 
will wish to have removed ; but all big questions are national, and even 
small questions must only be approached and considered from the national 
point of view. It is also true that some measures may appear of more import- 
ance to most women than they do to most men ; women may be influenced by 
some arguments which would not appeal equally to the majority of men ; 
legislation may actually affect them in different ways, and in limited sections of 
the community there may be conflict of Interests. But all this does tot alter 
the broad fact that men's questions are women's questions, and women's 
men's, and that if their interests are not always identical, they are, at any 
rate, inextricably bound up together, and the only way to find solutions for 
the problems with which we are faced is by the closest mutual co-operation 
and understanding between the sexes. 

There are many women who as individuals or in organisations have 
definitely associated themselves with one or other of the three great parties, 
and whose minds on main political questions are definitely made up ; but 
many of these are young women and outside of the present restricted franchise. 
There are others, especially those whose political interest has been first 
awakened during the war, who rather cling to ths idea of a government of 
super-men, and are unwilling to attach themselves to any particular party, 
though an election will make them realise that some choice is almost inevitable. 
There are also many women who have never taken any particular interest in 
palilics at all. 



66 LIBERAL POLICY. 

There is no reason why Liberalism should not be able to make an appeal 
to women of all kinds. The principle of liberty of the individual, which has 
always been one of its outstanding characteristics, makes a great attraction 
for women who have found their aspirations checked by artificial sex restric- 
tions, and its social programme opens a wide field of subjects In which women 
are deeply concerned. 

Social Programme. 

But if support is to be got from women for the various internal reforms 
outlined in this book, it is quite clear that they should be explained and 
advocated on grounds that come within the actual experience of an ordinary 
woman, and we must be ready to present the case from a domestic standpoint, 
and draw Illustrations from ordinary home life rather than from the 
statistics which appeal to the more experienced politician. There is no 
difficulty about this, for many of the items on our social programme affect 
intimately the lives of simple people who may know little that goes on outside 
of their own homes or their own street or village. 

Free Trade. 

The essenee of the argument.for Free Trade ean find complete illustration 
within the four walls of the humblest cottage. Every householder can 
understand the difference between plenty and scarcity, and her recent experi- 
ence will not make her unwilling to turn a very sympathetic mind to the policy 
of abundance which Is the fundamental basis of the Free Trade argument. 
She may not want to try and understand the intricacies of foreign exchanges, 
but she has learned the effect of eutting off supplies from abroad, and now 
realises, as probably never before, how much she depends upon the resources 
of other countries for food and other goods essential to the feeding of her 
family and the comfort of her home. Rising prices have of late been the 
main anxiety for thousands of women, who know now that even a government 
with authority to fix prices eannot completely overcome the inevitable fact 
that a policy which results in scarcity must also result In high prices. 

Women, both In town and country alike have suffered enough from the 
hands of the Controllers to be ready with at any rate an open mind to 
weigh the arguments in favour of freedom of trade within as well as without. 

Temperance Reform. 
The restrictions of the Liquor Trade during the war make much more 
difference to the dwellers in crowded streets of small houses, where the ill- 
behaviour of a neighbour may affect the peace and quiet of the whole street, 
than to those who live In the spacious quarters of the well-to-do. Many 
women can testify to the difference made in the mere comfort of their home- 
life by the earlier closing of public-houses and the diminution of street dis- 
turbances and uproar. The greater earnings of girls, and the greater free- 
dom of their lives produced by war conditions, have given to many women 
Increased anxiety for legislation which will at any rate diminish for their 
daughters as well as for their sons the temptation of the public-house and 
the social dangers which are associated with it. Liberal women can be 
relied upon to give substantial support to a ttrpjrg measure of Temperacce 
reform. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 67 

Housing Reform. 

Housing reform obviously is of special interest to women, the great 
majority of whom spend the greater part of their working hours as well as 
their leisure within their own doors, and there is every prospect that once 
women realise that they have an opportunity of translating their political 
power into terms of healthy, comfortable homes, we shall see a great impetus 
given to the demand for a much higher level of administration with regard 
to slum areas, insanitary dwellings and overcrowding due to insufficiency of 
houses. We shall also feel more confidence that the cottages of future 
State schemes will be constructed on practical and sensible lines. 

Health and Hygiene. 

All women, even the most unpolitioally minded, have opinions on 
matters of health and hygiene. No one suffers more than they do from in- 
adequate or foolish State control in these matters. If any woman has been 
so fortunate as to secure in her home the attentions of every type of sanitary 
inspector and health visitor, insurance Inspector, school nurse, etc., who with 
uncoordinated zeal may now knock at her door, she will assuredly support 
any sound scheme which will eurb these distracting activities into one well- 
organised system of Health Administration. 

Women undoubtedly could play a much more important part than 
they have done in local health affairs, and there is no doubt that the granting 
of the Parliamentary vote will tend to quicken their interest and increase 
their sense of responsibility in the administration of the laws which they 
will now feel that they have had a direct share in carrying through. 

Equality of Opportunity. 

Liberal women will look with confidence to the Liberal Party to secure 
the removal of the sex disabilities and disqualifications under which they are 
still placed. Liberalism has always stood pre-eminently for the liberty of 
the individual, and as individuals women ask that no- artificial barriers should 
shut them out from any profession or industry, or from any of the functions 
and duties of citizens in which they may desire to take part. There are, of 
course, natural restrictions which everyone recognises. Women do not 
suggest that they should be included in the combatant ranks of army and 
navy, though there may be no good reason for excluding them from other 
ranks. The experience of the war has shown how large a number of army 
services can properly be allocated to women. 

What women ask is that no profession should be closed against them 
merely on the ground of sex. All they want is a right of entry. They will 
be prepared to face the normal competition on equal terms, and whether or 
not they will be competent to secure a permanent footing must be left to 
them. The war has made this both easier and more urgent. On the one 
hand, it has shown how much more varied women's contribution to industry 
can be than was ever supposed, and on the other band it has forced us to 
recognise how many more women now must depend on their own exertions 
for a living, and how essential it la in the national interest that everyone, in 
every class, men and women alike, should make some contribution to the 
national output. Business men must no longer regard it as a slight on their 
financial credit, or on their social standing, that their daughters should take 
up a profession and refuse to live in idleness. 



68 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Now that women have been recognised not only as fit to b® electors, but 
also as fit to sit as representatives in Parliament, they will expect that their 
educational needs will receive as much consideration as those of men ; that 
equality of educational opportunity as between boys and girls should be 
carried through our whole educational system, from our elementary schools 
to the sphere of higher education, not excluding the most ancient universities. 

Equal Mora! Standard. 

Women also claim that divorce laws should be altered, so that men and 
women should be placed on an equal footing <*s regards grounds for divorce. 
This is not only important in itself, but as an illustration of the fundamental 
principle which women insist must be recognised as the basis of all legisla- 
tion and administrative action in connection with moral and social problems, 
and that principle is that the same moral standard must be applied to men as 
to women. Until the State is prepared to accept this standard, It cannot 
succeed in grappling successfully with these moral questions, for the full 
co-operation of women cannot be secured on any other terms. Women 
cannot acquiesce in laws which they feel are drawn up and administered on 
a morally unsound basis. They feel that real moral progress, which is the 
only sure cure for social ills, cannot be attained by any legal system, bow- 
ever well devised, which does not aim at the highest moral standard for 
men as well as for women. 

Bights of Mothers and Children. 

A plea is often made by women for the alteration in the law which gives 
the father sole custody of the child, by granting to the mother a joint right of 
custody. It certainly seems reasonable that both parents should have the 
rights as well as the responsibilities of parenthood. If the father in most 
cases provides the means for the nurture of the child, it is usually the mother's 
duty to devote herself to its actual care, and to administer the money provided; 
and it seems only just that she should have an equal right to decide how her 
child should fe* brought up. 

It is also claimed that a similar right should he given to the mother as 
the father now enjoys of appointing a guardian for the child after his death, 
to act with the mother. Why should not the mother be equally entitled to 
choose a guardian for her child to act with the father after her death ? It 
seems difficult to devise terms under which ail duties and responsibility can 
he equally anjoyed by parents who may disagree, for instance in such a 
matter as the choice of the religion in which the child is to be educated, which 
now belongs to the father. But it is not unreasonable to urge that where 
disputes arise, the courts where they are settled shall he constituted in such 
a way that the mother can feel satisfied that her point of view is equally 
represented with the father's. Women will certainly urge that they should 
be eligible as magistrates, and take their share in ail the machinery of courts 
and police which have to deal with so many of the most difficult questions 
affecting both sexes of all ages. 

It is also urged that amendments are needed to the laws relating to illegi- 
timate children and affiliation orders. It is suggested that the duty of 
recovering payments under the order should he thrown on the collecting 
officer, and that no maximum should he fixed, bus; that the Courts should 
have power to vary the amount according to the father's financial position. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 69 

Equal Pay for Equal Work. 

This demand for equality of pay as between men and women doing equal 
work has a ring of justice about it, and is apparently accepted by many Liberals 
as a natural consequence of the recognition of the general principle of the 
equality of the sexes. Like most popular cries, it requires definition. Equal 
hours of work do not necessarily mean equal work, and even apparent 
equality of output is not always an actual equality, because evidence goes 
to show that women, at any rate in some forms of work, are more liable to 
absence through sickness. It is also often urged that women's work in general 
Is of less value to employers because large numbers of women workers give 
up their employment on marriage, and may cease to work at the v*ry time 
when they are becoming experienced and skilful. 

It is true that allowing for the fact that women's output is less, her 
relative wage in many cases is far Sower than can be justified by the difference 
in her work, and her inequality of pay is out of all proportion to her inequality 
of output, where such exists. On the other hand it is difficult to estimate 
in money value the inconvenience to the employer occasioned by the mere 
fact of her unreliability of attendance. Especially since the war great force has 
been given to the argument that unless women and men are paid equally, a 
woman, taking a man's place, may undercut him and eventually lose him 
his job, when the man comes back to take up civil employment. It is 
certainly not in the national interest that men should go idle in order that 
women may he employed. But on the whole, if men and women are to be 
paid alike, women must realise that the general tendency will be for the 
employer to prefer to employ men. 

The war conditions of women's work have been so abnormal, that we 
cannot judge of future conditions by present experience It is sometimes 
forgotten that output is not the only criterion of value, and that rates of 
pay cannot avoid being influenced to Some extent by the laws of supply and 
demand. There may be professions where both men and women are required 
which are not equally popular with both sexes. It may, for instance, be 
necessary to offer a special inducement of extra pay to attract a sufficient 
number of men to the teaching profession, and even to increase the existing 
inequality of pay in order to secure a sufficient supply. Political interest in 
the matter centres round the action of the State with regard to its employees. 
In so far as the pay of individual State servants is eonsernsd, of men and 
women who are selected for spesial posts owing to their personal qualifica- 
tions, there does not seem to be any reason why there should b© a differentia- 
tion between the sexes, any more than there is in the open competition 
between men and women in professions outside Government service. And 
where only a woman can provide the particular qualification of sex which 
is required for the particular post, she should not be penalised in consequence. 
But when it is a question of the payment of classes of workers, there can be 
no doubt that as long as the great majority of men have to support a wife 
and family, and the great majority of women do not, there must always be 
a tendency for men to require and exact, as far as they can, a higher rate of 
pay than women. For the State to ignore this would be unsocial. It is not 
in the national interest that men should earn no more money for the mainten- 
ance of a home than women can earn to spend on themselves. 

But whatever arguments may be urged for the need of giving a family 
wage to family bread-winners, women are not convinced of the necessity 



70 LIBERAL POLICY. 

of giving unmarried women lower rates of pay, as compared with unmarried 
men, than are justified by their relative economic disability. Whether or 
not it is possible that in the future the " family supporting " wage can be 
recognised by some system of special subvention, it is certainly on these 
lines, rather than on the lines of purely sex distinction, that women would 
be found willing to acquiesce in a permanent system of inequality of pay. 

What Liberalism must aim at securing is that every worker, male or 
female, should be secured a definite minimum wage for a full day's work, 
and we must make every effort to secure by extension of Wages Boards, or 
any other means, that there shall be no return to the old conditions of 
sweated labour under which numberless women suffered so grievously in 
the past. 

League of Nations. 

It is often suggested that women are never interested in foreign affairs, 
and that they cannot be moved by questions of foreign policy. But the war 
has enlarged the boundaries of nearly all our homes. Even remote villages 
have been brought into close and intimate contact with far-off countries and 
strange climates and peoples, and the letters and tales of soldiers have stirred 
the imagination of many people who have rarely moved more than a few 
miles from home, foreign countries can never again be mere names to 
mothers who aro trying with imaginative sympathy to picture the lives of 
their sons fighting in distant and historic fields. And though the popular 
conception of Kaiserdom and of the constitutional reforms necessary in 
Germany before she can be recognised as a civilised nation may be crude and 
superficial, there is at any rate a genuine and widespread interest, in which 
women undoubtedly share, in the affairs of other nations unknown before 
the war, which will permanently affect British policy in foreign affairs in the 
future. 

Ordinary women are no more capable than are ordinary men of solving 
the complicated international problems of the construction of a League of 
Nations, and the term may not bring any very definite picture to their minds ; 
but there are few wives and mothers so untouched by the sorrows of the war 
that they will not lend an eager mind to any proposals that will promise them 
and their children and grandchildren, the chance of freedom from this horror 
for the years to come. They will certainly contribute a large share of the 
enthusiastic determination to find some other means of settling international 
disputes, which alone can provide the force of opinion necessary to press on 
a solution of the difficulties of the problem. 

Women and True Social Progress. 

It can be no disadvantage that social reformers, in advocating their pro- 
grammes of reform, must now make their appeal to, and win support from, 
women who in the great majority of cases have a very special knowledge of 
the ills which it is hoped to remove, and can contribute very practical criti- 
cism to the plans suggested, and in th«ir love of humanity, their eagerness 
to do what they can to alleviate the sorrows of the world, and their intense 
concern for the welfare of children, and for all that makes for the happiness 
and security of home life — women may well claim that they can supply no 
small part of the moral force and idealism, without which no true social pro- 
gress can be attained. 



X.— CONDITIONS OF INDUSTRY. 

By B. Seebohm Rowntree. 



The following resolution oh the policy of the Liberal Party after the War 
was adopted by the General Committee of the National Liberal Federation at 
Manchester, September 27th, 1918 : — 

*' This Committee declares that the time has come when there should 
be a fundamental change in the relations between employers and em- 
ployed ; that the workers must be given a full share in determining the 
conditions that affect their own lives ; and that Industrial Councils, to 
secure the self-government of the trades, should be established in accord- 
ance with the proposals in the Whitley Reports. 

" That under the auspices of these Industrial Councils, supplemented 
where necessary by Statutory Trade Boards, there should be establishtd, 
both for men and women, in every branch of employment, a Minimum 
Wage which shall afford a proper standard of comfort, and be a first 
charge on every branch of trade and industry. That such hours of work 
should be established as will provide reasonable leisure and opportunity 
for self-culture, and that the prevention of unemployment and the 
provision of adequate insurance against it should be regarded ?.s a first 
aim both of the Industrial Councils and of the State. 

" And that, apart from such changes as may be made by general 
consent, the pledges to restore the Trade Union Regulations, suspended 
during the War on grounds of patriotism, should be completely fulfilled. 
That steps should be taken by the State to prevent exploitation of the 
public by trusts. That National control of monopolies such as railways, 
canals, and coal mines, should be maintained and extended with a view 
to ultimate national ownership if further experience proves it to be 
desirable." 

This resolution eontains seven clauses, which I propose to consider 

separately. 

Clause 1. 
'* This Committee declares that the time has come when there should 
be a fundamental change 'in the relations between employers and em- 
ployed ; that the workers must be given a full share in determining the 
conditions that affect their own lives ; and that Industrial Councils to 
secure the self-government of the trades, should be established in accord- 
ance with the proposals in the Whitley Reports." 

Workers and the Control of Industry. 
There has for many years been a steadily growing demand on the part 
of the workers for a larger share in the control of industry. They have been 



72 LIBERAL POLICY. 

gaining ground in different fields of activity; each broadening cf the franchise 
has increased their political power, and better education has enabled them 
to take advantage of the opportunities thus afforded them. Consequently, 
the influence of Labour on both national and local politics is constantly 
growing stronger. But although the chosen representatives of the workers 
more and more frequently sit in the council chambers both of the State and 
of cities, and there discuss subjects of public import with other elected 
representatives on terms of perfect equality, the control of industry has up 
to the present been very largely regarded by the capitalist as his own pre- 
rogative. Even the right of the workers to be represented by their Trade 
Union officials in the discussion of any important matter with the manage- 
ment is not universally recognised, though any employer who ignores it is 
generally considered old-fashioned and unreasonable. But, as a rule, a 
Trade Union only approaches the employer when some dispute has arisen, 
or when a demand is put forward by the workers for the remedy of some 
grievance. 

The present position may, therefore, be briefly summed up as follows : — 
Employers fix the wages, the working hours, and the general conditions of 
work ; they make all the shop rules, and engage and dismiss workers at their 
pleasure. If their action is objected to by the workers, the latter state their 
views through their Trade Union representative, and the result is largely a 
matter of the relative fighting strength of the two parties. The employer 
still tends, very frequently, to assume the role of an autocrat, and to resent 
any effort to limit his power on the part of the workers. The efficiency of a 
Trade Union Secretary, on the other hand, is largely measured among the 
workers by his success in scoring points for them against the employer. He 
is attacking a citadel from outside. It is obvious that such a relationship must 
lead to considerable friction, and, often after bitter strife, decisions are 
arrived at which do not rest upon the Intrinsic justice of the case, but on the 
respective strength of workers and employers. 

The resolution declares that this condition of things should cease, and 
that in future industry should be frankly recognised as the joint enterprise 
of capitalists and workers, who must mutually determine the conditions 
under which it is conducted. This means, in effect, that the worker will no 
longer be a servant, who, in return for a given wage, is expected to obey any 
instructions, and work under any conditions which his master may impose, 
but a co-operator. 

The System of Councils. 

Broadly speaking, under the proposals made in the Whitley Report, the 
representatives of capital retain control over the financial side of industry ; 
they buy the raw material, and sell the finished product at their sole discre- 
tion. But all working conditions are to be controlled by councils' on which 
representatives of capital and representatives of the workers sit as equals. 
There will be a central council for each industry, to decide on the working 
conditions of that industry as a whole ; there will be district councils, to con- 
sider more detailed questions affecting a district, and there will be works 
councils, dealing with matters relevant to a particular factory or other unit 
6f industrial activity.* 

*For fuller information see Industrial Report No. 1, "Industrial Councils," and Industrial 
Report No. 2, " Works Committee," published by the Ministry of Labour, Id. and 6d. 
respectively. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 73 

The demand of the workers in this connection was ably summarised by 
Mr. H. Gosling, in his presidential address to the Trade Union Congress in 
Birmingham in 1916, in the following words : — 

" We workmen do not ask that we should be admitted to any share 
in what is essentially the employer's own business — that is, in those matters 
which do not concern us directly in the industry or employment in which 
we may be engaged. We do not seek to sit on the Board of Directors, 
or to interfere with the buying of materials, or with the selling of the 
product. But in the daily management of the employment in which we 
spend our working lives, in the atmosphere and under the conditions 
in which we have to work, in the conditions of remuneration, and even 
in the manners and practices of the foremen with whom we have to be 
in contact, in all these matters we feel that we, as workmen, have a right 
to a voice — even to an equal voice— with the management itself. Believe 
me, we shall never get any lasting industrial peace except on the lines of 
industrial democracy. " 

Only experience can show the extent to which in the future this joint control 
by capital and labour can be advantageously exercised. The administration 
of an industrial organisation is far from easy, and certain fundamental 
conditions must always be observed if it is to be successfully accomplished. 
It must never be forgotten that if high wages are to be paid they must be 
earned. There is no wages fund into which the workers may dip other than 
that which is created day by day through the wisely co-ordinated activities 
of capital and labour ; and any tendency towards industrial anarchy could 
only lead to disaster. Thus, workers should realise from the outset that 
the tests of joint control are efficient administration and economical produc- 
tion. Common-sense, goodwill, and patience will be required both on the 
part of labour and on the part of capital if Whitley Councils, whether works 
councils, or district or national councils, are to develop successfully. Em- 
ployers must be willing to acknowledge the just claims of the workers, while 
the workers must recognise the necessity of maintaining adequate discipline 
and giving a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. We cannot expect, in a few 
months, to transform the conditions of industry. Workers and employers 
must accustom themselves to the new relationships which the Whitley 
Councils will involve, and advance cautiously, yet steadfastly, without 
suspicion of bad faith on either side. If they do this, a spirit of co-opera- 
tion may develop which, so far from lessening efficiency, will increase it. The 
establishment of Whitley Councils marks an epoch in industry. It is the 
full official recognition of the right of th« workers to take their share in 
framing the conditions under which they work, instead of merely trying, 
by means of external pressure, to alter conditions already established. 

Clause 2. 
" That under the auspices of these Industrial Councils, supplemented 
where necessary by Statutory Trade Boards, there should be established 
both for men and women, in every branch of employment, a Minimum 
Wage, which shall afford a proper standard of comfort, and be a first 
charge on every branch of trade and industry." 

The principle involved in the above clause of the resolution is very 
far-reaching, and the case for adopting it merits the most careful enquiry. 



74 LIBERAL POLICY. 

In what follows we should seek to answer four questions : — 

(1) Is the establishment of a minimum wage in every industry necessary? 

(2) What should the minimum wage be, for men and women respectively ? 

(3) How shall it be secured ? 

(4) Can industry pay it ? 

(1) Is a Minimum Wage necessary? 

We must base our answer to this question on pre-war statistics, for 
industrial conditions during the war have been entirely abnormal, and when 
it ends, there must necessarily be great changes both in the money wages 
earned and in their purchasing power. The most reliable statistics regard- 
ing pre-war wages are those published by Professor Rowley in 1911, which 
are principally based on the Census of Production made in 1907. Professor 
Rowley estimated that there were 8,000,000 adult men in regular occupa- 
tions in the United Kingdom, and that their weekly money Wages in ordinary 
full work, including valuation for payment in kind, were as follows : — 



Wage. 


Number of Men. 


Percentage of Total, 


Under 15s. 


320,000 


4 


15s. to 20s. 


640,000 


8 


20s. to 25s. 


1,600,000 


20 


25s. to 80s. 


1,680,000 


21 


30s. to 35s. 


1,680,000 


21 


35s. to 40s. 


1,040,000 


13 


40s. to 45s. 


560,000 


7 


Over 45s. 


480,000 


6 



8,000,000 

These figures take no account of casual workers, many of whom were earning 
exceedingly low wages, and whose total number may be estimated at about 
500,000. Thus we see that in 1911, two-and-a-half million adult men, or 
one-third of the whole, worked for 25s. or less a week, and six million, or 
three-quarters of the whole, earned 35s. or less. 

No similar figures have been prepared for women, but a perusal of the 
Board of Trade Report on an enquiry undertaken in 1906-7 shows that 
out of the four million women wage-earners, about nine-tenths earned less 
than a pound a week. There was a slight improvement in wages between 
1911 and 1914, but it was not very marked. During the war a great number 
of men and women, and even boys and girls, have been earning very high 
wages ; but it must not be imagined for a moment that all the workers 
receive higher real wages than they previously did. The cost of living, 
taking the expenditure under all heads into account, is now from 80 per cent, 
to 100 per cent, higher than before the war, and it is certain that a very 
considerable proportion of workers are decidedly worse off than tbey were, 
notwithstanding the great rise in money wages. Moreover, the abnormally 
high wages which obtain in some munition works will cease when the war 
is over. We see, therefore, that there is a very good prima facie case for 
establishing a minimum, and we must next ask : 



LIBERAL POLICY. 75 

(2) What should the Minimum Wage be? 
It is necessary to answer this question in some detail ; for otherwise we 
do not realise to what the resolution commits us. We may accept it in the 
vague sense in which such doctrines as " equality of opportunity for all," 
or " the brotherhood of man " are often accepted, without any practical 
attempt to realise their implications. I propose, therefore, to indicate in 
some detail what is involved in providing a " proper standard of comfort." 
The standard I define is a minimum standard, i.e., one below which no class 
or grade of workers should be compelled to live. In discussing the principles 
on which minimum wages should be fixed, it is important to differentiate 
between minimum wages and those above the minimum. Minimum wages 
should be determined primarily by human needs ; wages above the minimum 
may be left to the bargaining of the market. In considering human needs, 
we must distinguish between the needs of men and women, and in what 
follows I want to make it clear that I am not discussing the question of equal 
pay for equal work, but simply asking what wages will enable men and women 
respectively to live in accordance with a proper standard of comfort. 

MEN, 

In considering what the minimum wage should be for men, it must 
be borne in mind that 90 per cent, of men marry, and consequently their 
minimum wages must be sufficient to maintain a man and his wife and 
dependent children. Space forbids me from discussing at length the 
question of the number of dependent children for whom allowance must 
be made. But from detailed investigations which I have recently made, 
*I am certain that it would be impossible to defend any wage which did 
not cover the requirements of a normal family, consisting of man, wife and 
three dependent children ; and the estimates here given are based on this 
number.f 

In defining rather more accurately what we mean by the proper standard 
of comfort, I suggest that we may adopt the following principle. The minimum 
wage should enable a man to marry, to live in a decent house, and bring up 
a family of normal size in a state of physical efficiency, while allowing a 
reasonable margin for contingencies and recreation. What will this cost? 
For the moment we will base our calculations on pre-war prices. 

Expenditure for food. 

The amount of food which must be provided varies with the severity of 
the work. Assuming that the work is of "moderate" severity, and that 
the dietary is selected with very great economy, the necessary nutriment 
could be obtained for 15s. Id. a week at 1914 prices. We must, however, 
bear in mind that in adopting this figure we are assuming a knowledge of 
the nutritive value of different food-stuffs and a skill in their selection which 
are seldom possessed by the working classes. The dietary selected is, in 
fact, economical to the point of improbability ! It is more economical, 
having regard to its nutritive value, than that provided in prisons or work- 
houses, and much more economical than the dietary of soldiers in barracks. 
The most legitimate criticism of the figure would be that, far from over- 
estimating, it tended to under-estimate the sum required to provide adequate 
nutriment for a family of five, 

* " The Human Needs of Labour," B. Seebohm Rowntree. (Nelson & Sons, 3s. 8d.) 
t I shall show later that even if we allow for three dependent children we do not really grapple with 
the whole situation, and I make proposals in this connection. 



76 LIBERAL POLICY. 



A healthy and suitable house for a family of five should be dry, well- 
drained, capable of being properly heated, and so constructed that it may 
receive an adequate supply of fresh air and sunlight. There should be three 
bedrooms, partly to avoid overcrowding, and partly to allow for proper 
separation of the sexes. It is impossible to give any flat rate which all tenants 
would pay for such a house, as rents vary so greatly from district to district ; 
and in fixing minimum wages, the level of local rents would have to be con- 
sidered. But, leaving extremes out of account, it may be said that the 
rent would be somewhere about 6s. a week, including rates, in towns, and 
perhaps 2s. 6d. in the country.* 

Clothing. 

Careful enquiries with regard to the lowest sum on which a family o! 
five can be warmly and respectably clothed show that the following allow- 
ances must be made : — Men Is. 9d. per week, women Is. per week, and 
children 9d. per week, making a total of 5s. a week for a family of five, at 
1914 prices. 

Fuel. 

Enquiry from a great number of families shows that the average weekly 
consumption of coal is \l cwt., costing about 2s. 6«L at pre-war prices. 

Household and Personal Sundries, 

Household sundries, which include such items as lighting, cleaning 
materials, repairs, renewals of crockery, etc., cannot be put at less than 
4d. per head per week, or is. 8d. for a family of five. Personal sundries in- 
clude Trade Union subscriptions, travelling to and from work, newspapers, 
National Health Insurance, additional subscriptions to sick clubs, recreation, 
beer, and tobacco. The minimum sum for these may be put at 5s. , making 
8s. 3d. for household and personal sundries for a family of five. 

Adding up all the above items, we arrive at 35s. 3d. as the minimum sum 
upon which a man who exercises all reasonable economy could provide for a 
family of five at 1914 prices, viz. : — Food, 15s. Id. ; rent, 6s. ; clothing, 5s. ; 
fuel, 2s. 8d. ; sundries, 6s. Sd. ; total, 35s. 3d. 

WOMEN. 

Before endeavouring to fix the minimum wage for women, we must ask 
whether It should include any provision for the maintenance of dependants. 
There is very little statistical information regarding the extent to which 
women engaged in industry support others besides themselves. The FaMan 
Women's Group f made an investigation into this -subject in 1915, but they 
dealt mainly with professional women, whose conditions In regard to depend- 
ants are somewhat different from those obtaining amongst industrial workers. 
I have recently made a detailed though limited enquiry which covered 516 
working women taken at random in York, and ascertained that only one in 
six of them was responsible for the maintenance of any other person. In 
every case that responsibility had arisen through some accidental cause, 
such as the death, or illness, or unemployment, or inadequate wage of the 



Tiie question of rents of houses is dealt with in the report of the Land Enquiry Committee. Vol. II, 
(Urban) Hodder & Sloughton, Is., and also in the Report of an Enquiry into Rents made by 
the Board of Trade. Cd. 6955, 191S. 

" Wage-Earning Women and their Dependants," Fabian Society, Is. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 77 

male wage-earner, or the claims of a parent who had been unable to make 
adequate provision for old age. The human needs arising out of such mis- 
fortunes should most certainly be met, not, however, by raising the minimum 
wages of women generally, but by other forms of social legislation, which 
would probably include pensions for widows, the making of insurance against 
unemployment universal and compulsory, and greatly increasing the unem- 
ployment benefit, and the payment oi minimum wages to men which will 
enable them not only to provide adequately for the immediate needs of their 
household, but for sickness and old age. In estimating the minimum wages 
for women, therefore, no allowance is here made for dependants. This is 
not to deal with women less generously than with men. The minimum 
wage for a man takes no account of any accidents or misfortunes which may 
render his normal wage inadequate to meet exceptional needs, although it 
rests upon the fact that he is normally responsible for the maintenance of 
the family. I submit, therefore, that the principle on which the wage should 
be determined should be that for a woman worker it should be sufficient tc 
enable her to live in a decent dwelling, and to support herself in a state of 
full physical efficiency, with a reasonable margin for recreation and contin- 
gencies. 

It is usual for working women either to live at home, or with another 
family. Before the war, suitable board and lodging, including laundry, 
could be obtained in most towns at a cost of about 12s. weekly, and I adopt 
this figure in my estimate. I add 4s. for clothing, which is a higher figure 
than allowed for the wife of a worker, because a girl going out to work every 
day wears out more clothes than a married woman, and, quite apart from 
any question of vanity, it will be recognised that a girl's chance of making a 
suitable match depends largely upon her ability to dress attractively. As 
for sundries, after very careful enquiry, I put them down at 4s. a week, 
which covers Trade Union subscription, National Health Insurance, and 
subscription to a second sick club, travelling to and from work, etc. The 
above hems total up to a sum of £1 a week as the minimum wage which 
should be paid to women at 1914 prices. 

Although it has been necessary to base our estimates on pre-war prices, 
it is probable that we shall never pay these prices again, and minimum 
wages in future must be on a higher scale. How much higher it is impossible 
to say. We do not know what the post-war normal level of prices will be, but 
it would be optimistic to assume that they are likely to be less than 25 per 
cent, above 1914 figures. If they drop to this level, the minimum wages 
necessary to secure the standard of comfort above defined would be 44s. for 
men and 25s. for women. 

(3) How to Secure these Wages. 
I showed at the outset that in 1914, the weekly earnings of 75 per cent, 
of the male industrial workers were less than 35s., while nine-tenths of the 
women were earning less than £1 a week. It is clear, therefore, that drastic 
measures will be necessary before we can secure at least the minimum wages 
indicated above. In considering these measures we must bear in mind that 
the fund out of which wages are paid is created day by day in the processes 
of industry. The experience of the Trade Boards has shown that wages can 
be safely and substantially increased if it is done by reasonable stages, so 
that the industry can adapt itself to the altered conditions which the payment 
of. higher, wages, necessitates,, It would be very unwise to pass a law demanding 



78 LIBERAL POLICY. 

the immediate payment by all industries of such minimum wages as are 
here proposed. The right course is that suggested in the resolution, viz. : — 
that the securing of the minimum wage should be left to Industrial Councils 
supplemented where necessary by Statutory Trade Boards. Parliament 
might, however, suitably enact that within a prescribed period every adult 
man should receive a wage which would enable him to marry, to live in a 
decent house, and bring up a family of normal size in a state of physical 
efficiency, while allowing a moderate margin for contingencies and recreation. 
Every adult woman should receive a wage which would enable her to live in 
a decent dwelling, and to maintain herself in a state of full physical efficiency, 
with a moderate margin for recreation and contingencies. 

It would then be left to the Industrial Councils or Trade Boards to 
secure these minimum wages at the earliest possible date, although this date 
might vary with the ability of the industry concerned to pay higher wages 
without such serious dislocation as would lead to widespread unemployment. 
Some industries could pay the minimum wage very much sooner than others ; 
but it is essential that a period (say, five or seven years) should be fixed 
within which all wages must be brought up to the minimum. 

(4) Can Industry Pay such Minimum Wages ? 
I cannot here discuss at any length the methods which those responsible 
for the conduct of industry must employ when industry is restored to a 
normal state, in order to pay wages on a scale much higher than prevailed 
before the war. But it may be stated briefly that there are only three 
possible sources of an increase in wage. These are, increased prices, reduced 
profits, and greater industrial efficiency. 

(1) Increase of Prices. 

In this connection, it is essential to remember that the estimate of 44s. 
minimum wage for men and 25s. for women is made on the assumption that 
prices drop to 25 per cent, above the pre-war level. If they do not, a higher 
minimum wage will be necessary ; and, therefore, although there may be some 
adjustment between prices in one industry and another, we cannot look to 
increased prices to solve our difficulty. This fact should be borne in mind 
in connection with the argument that we can secure high wages by protective 
tariffs. 

(2) Reduction in Profits. 

There are, doubtless, some industries which could with perfect safety 
reduce their profits in order to pay higher wages. But the idea, prevalent 
among some workers, that there is an almost fathomless fund of profits, out 
of which wages may be indefinitely increased without any alteration in the 
organisation of industry, is essentially false. Taking industry as a whole, 
the reduction of profits, however desirable in some c?ses, will not go far 
towards meeting the needs of the situation. 

(3) Greater Industrial Efficiency. 

Speaking generally, higher wages must be the outcome of greater indus- 
trial efficiency. This can be secured by the wider application of science to 
industry, the introduction of costing systems everywhere, a better relationship 
between employers and employed, so that valuable energy may not be 
wasted on hostilities and greater security against unemployment, so that no 
man need fear to do his best, lest he or his mate should be thrown out of 



LIBERAL POLICY. 79 

work. Moreover, it is safe to prophesy that the efficiency of the workers 
will increase as a direct result of higher wages. Many employers are already 
convinced that low wages do not pay. Underfed men and women can never 
do their best ; and a worker who is chronically dissatisfied because his 
wage is low does not care to do his best. 

One more point must be considered before we pass to other questions. 
Hitherto we have assumed that a man's wage should be adequate to provide 
for three dependent children, but enquiries which I have recently made show 
clearly that it we only fix the minimum wage on such a basis, a very large 
proportion of the children of men receiving it will for a number of years be 
inadequately provided for. My investigation shows that 54 per cent, of 
these children belong to families where for five years or more there are four 
or more children dependent on the earnings of the father, and 38 per cent, to 
families where for five years or more there are five or more children dependent 
on the earnings of the father. 

These facts speak for themselves, and it is most imperative to provide 
some means of safeguarding the larger families. In so far as the problem can 
eventually be met by raising the minimum wage, well and good. This, no 
doubt, is the ideal at which wage boards should aim. But even to fix the 
minimum generally at a leVel which will provide for a family with three 
dependent children means a heavy demand on the resources of industry ; 
and at present there is little prospect of establishing a minimum sufficient 
for larger families. Unless, therefore, w« are to continue to allow a large 
proportion of the nation's children to pass through many critical years ill- 
housed, ilk-clad, and underfed, we must seek some other solution of the 
problem which confronts us. The only possible alternative — and I admit it 
is fraught with many difficulties-— is to fix minimum wages sufficient to 
secure physical efficiency for, say, three dependent children, and for the State 
to make a grant to the mother in such cases, and for such a time as there are 
more than three dependent children. This suggestion may appear revolu- 
tionary, but It is nothing new. Such a principle is already admitted in the 
case of the Income-tax, where a substantial abatement is made for every 
child. If Parliament has recognised the need for such a State grant to 
families with an income of not less than £130 a year, surely a much stronger 
case can be made out for a similar grant where the income is much smaller. 
Again, the State graduates its separation allowance for soldiers' wives 
according to the number of dependent children. 

I estimate that the cost of providing 3s. a week for all dependent chil- 
dren in excess of three per family, would amount to a little over eight million 
pounds per annum. 

Clause 3- 
" That such hours of work should be established as will provide 

reasonable leisure and opportunity for self-culture." 

Hours of Work : Self-Culture. 

This question may be considered first from ihestandpoint of the workers, 
and secondly from that of industry as a whole. 

From the standpoint of the workers it is clearly desirable, thai their 
hours of work should be so limited as to leave, them an adequate margin of 
leisure and opportunity for self-culture. We do not know what labour- 
saving machinery may be introduced in the near or distant future, nor what 
the normal working week will eventually come to be. At present, the 



80 LIBERAL POLICY. 

practical question before us is whether we can afford to limit it to 48 hours, 
thus allowing the workers a reasonable amount of leisure, or whether such a 
limitation would seriously interfere with the nation's industrial efficiency 
and ability to compete in the world-markets. It must be remembered that, 
whatever v/orking week is established, an adequate money wage must be 
paid. In other words, any reduction in the working hours must not involve 
a reduction of wages. 

There is a large mass of evidence that the general introduction of an 
eight-hour day is not incompatible with the development of economical and 
efficient production. This has been proved again and again by firms who 
have introduced a 48 hours week. A shorter working day does not necessarily 
reduce output for the following reasons : — 

(1) A 9 or 10 hours working day usually involves beginning at 6 in the 
morning or soon after, and it is notorious that work before breakfast is never 
efficient. 

(2) When working 48 hours a week, breakfast is taken at home before 
starting for work, and there is only one meal time during the working day. 
Now, no matter how well organised a factory may be, every stoppage for a 
meal means waste of time at each end of the break. The breakfast interval 
may normally be only half-an-hour, but the actual time lost from efficient 
work is probably at least three-quarters of an hour. Employees do not 
work up to the moment the stopping bell rings, nor do they begin again on 
the stroke of the starting bell. 

(3) But apart from the above considerations, a man working a short 
week can and will as a rule work more efficiently, and accomplish more per 
hour than one who is working a long one. The more severe the work, the 
greater are the advantages of a shorter working day. Where work is very 
light, a man may be able to continue to put forth his best effort during a 
comparatively long day ; but where it is severe it is physically impossible 
Jfor him to do so. In the former case if the hours are reduced without a 
reduction of wage, often the result will be to increase the cost of production. 
But most industries are made up of numbers of different occupations, some 
of which involve light work and others heavy work ; and experience in 
average industries shows thai the nett addition to labour cost, due to reduc- 
tion of hours is comparatively insignificant, and any slight increase in it can 
be counterbalanced by the introduction cf labour-saving machinery or more 
efficient administration. 

(4) It will be argued that the speed of work is often regulated by auto- 
matic machinery, and that from the point of view of output, it does not 
matter whether the machine is operated by a tired worker or one who is full 
of energy. The truth contained in this statement, however, is very partial. 
It applies where a piece of work is put into a machine which operates upon 
it automatically for a very long time. Take, for example, turning a very large 
piece of metal, which, once it has been fixed in the lathe remains there for 
many hours, while all the worker has to do is to see that the machine is 
working smoothly and very occasionally to make an adjustment in it. But 
Such operations are comparatively rare. More frequently work is put into 
and taken out of an automatic machine at comparatively short intervals ; 
and here, the speed with which Ms operatien is performed is materially 
greater when the worker is fresh and alert than when he is tired. He works 
fewer hours, but each hour is more valuable. There are other occupations, 
such, for instance, as those of the driver and conductor of a tram, where 



LIBERAL POLICY. 81 

though no direct economy is effected by shorter hours, the avoidance of 
risk constitutes an indirect economy. Notwithstanding this, however, in 
such occupations, a reduction of hours, without reduction of wage, will 
undoubtedly involve an increase in working costs. But taking industry as 
a whole, the great number of experiments which have been made in reduc- 
ing working hours to, say, 48 per week, show conclusively that the general 
establishment of such a limit will involve no material addition to working 
costs, and that the nation's ability to compete successfully in the markets of 
the world will be increased rather than diminished. 

The subject may, however, be regarded from a broader standpoint. 
It is obviously to the advantage of the whole community that the workers 
should be encouraged to utilise the opportunities which are provided for 
self-culture. But men who have to leave home between 5 and 6 in the 
morning, and who do not return home till 6 o'clock at night, cannot be 
expected to attend lectures or classes. There is no energy left in them ! If 
the country is to advance on sound and progressive lines, the democracy 
must take an intelligent interest in social and political questions, and the 
young people must spend part of their leisure in intellectual development. 
The establishment of a working day which will allow them to do this is 
absolutely essential to the nation's future welfare. 

Detailed evidence of the economy of short hours will be found in the 
following publications : — 

Memoranda No. 5, 7, and 18, compiled by the Health of Munition 
Workers' Committee. Cd. 8,186, l|d. ; Cd. 8,213, l|d. ; Cd. 8,628, 3d. 

Second Interim Report on Investigation on Industrial Fatigue, by 
A. F. Stanley Kent. Cd. 8,335, Is. 6d. 

Clause 4. 
" That the prevention of unempluym ent and the provision of adequate 
insurance against it should be regarded as a first aim both of the Industrial 
Councils and of the State." 

The extent of Unemployment. 

Roughly speaking, in pre-war days, the average number of persons 
unemployed at any one time in the British Isles, was about half a million. 
In other words, on the average about 95 per cent, of the workers at any one 
time are employed and 5 per cent, unemployed. The disastrous effects of 
unemployment are so familiar to us all that there is no need to dwell on them. 
What is needed is a remedy. 

How to deal with Unemployment. 

Our attack upon this evil must be twofold. First, the actual amount of 
unemployment must be reduced to the lowest possible minimum, and, second, 
adequate provision must be made for those who suffer from unavoidable 
unemployment. It is of supreme importance that the matter should be 
dealt with effectively, whether we view it from the standpoint of industry 
or from that of the unemployed worker. The importance of rendering 
industry more efficient in the future is universally recognised. It will involve, 
among other things, the introduction of labour-saving machinery and more 
capable administration, and persuading the worker to place no restriction 
on output. But we can hardly expect him to sympathise with these 



82 LIBERAL POLICY. 

movements so long as they may expose him to the risk of immediate suffering 
through unemployment. For although we all know that in the long run the 
introduction of such methods does not increase, but rather tends to reduce 
the amount of unemployment, the immediate effect may be to throw 
Individuals out of work. We must remove this fear of unemployment before 
we can enlist the hearty co-operation of the workers. 

Dealing first with the amount of unemployment, not a little can be done 
by individual employers, and still more by Industrial Councils, consisting of 
groups of employers and representatives of workers. We cannot here explain 
in detail the steps which may be taken in a factory to regularise employment, 
but experience shows that where careful consideration is given to the subject 
by the management, a great deal can be done in this direction. Apart from 
alterations in industrial methods which revolutionise an industry, it should 
be possible for an employer to guarantee his workers against unemployment 
arising from the introduction of labour-saving machinery, or their own 
increased efficiency. He might, indeed, occasionally have a few surplus workers 
on his hands, but these could soon be absorbed in a factory of any size, where 
there is always a leakage of workers from one cause or another and it is easy 
to find vacancies for those displaced. This method might involve a little 
immediate loss, but it would be more than made up to the employer by the 
effect on all his workers of the removal of the fear that unemployment might 
result from greater effort on their part. What happens in an individual 
factory would happen more extensively if a guarantee of this kind were given 
to workers by an Industrial Council. 

The second means by which the volume of unemployment might be 
reduced would be for the State and public bodies generally to make a 
systematic attempt to regularise employment, by the retardation or advance- 
ment of contracts according to the condition of the labour market. 

But even after all that was possible had been done in the ways indicated 
above, there would remain a considerable volume of inevitable unemployment. 
As a rule, unemployment means to a worker, so long as it continues, the 
complete or partial cessation of income, and often distress and privation both 
for himself and his family. Therefore, if the whole problem is to be solved, 
effective steps must be taken to provide unemployed persons with an adequate 
income. Now we have seen from the figures already quoted that even before 
any definite and concerted attempt is made to reduce the volume of unem- 
ployment, on the average 95 per cent, of persons are in employment and 
only 5 per cent, unemployed. Thus, a contribution equal to 5 per cent, of the 
wage bill would yield a fund sufficient to pay unemployed workers full wages. 
We do not here maintain that such a course would be advisable ; but clearly 
there is no insuperable financial difficulty in providing an adequate unemploy- 
ment fund. Probably, in order to cope with the evil it would be necessary to 
introduce a system of universal compulsory insurance against unemployment, 
with a great increase in the unemployment benefit of 7s. a week now payable 
in the insured trades. Industries should be allowed to contract out of the 
national scheme, if they could show that they were prepared to guarantee 
their workers terms as liberal as those which it provided. It would be for the 
Industrial Council, representing any given industry, to consider whether they 
could reduee the volume of unemployment within it to a level below the 
average. If they could, the burden of providing an unemployment insurance 
fund would be correspondingly lowered, to the advantage of both workers and 
employers. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 83 

But although general principles may be clearly laid down, careful study 
and close examination are needed before definite and detailed proposals can 
be submitted for dealing with the problem of unemployment. Wis imperative 
that we should grapple with the whole subject with the least possible delay. 

Clause 5. 
•And that apart from such changes as may be made by general 
consent, the pledges to restore the Trade Union Regulations, suspended 
during the War on grounds of patriotism, should be completely fulfilled.' 

The Trade Union Regulations. 

No argument is necessary to convince the publie that this portion of 
the resolution is reasonable and just. At the beginning of the war, when 
the need for increased output became urgent, the Government entered into 
negotiations with the Trade Unions, in eonsequenco of which many con- 
ditions by which the latter had succeeded in safeguarding the interests of the 
workers were withdrawn for the period of the war, A solemn pledge was 
given to the Trade Unions that when peace was declared those conditions 
should be restored. It Is clear that the pledge then given must be carried 
out both in the letter and the spirit, if, taking all the circumstances into 
account, the Trade Unions demand such fulfilment. But in the past faur 
years it has come to be recognised that industrial conditions can never again 
be just what they were before the war. So many changes will take place 
that it may be desirable to modify some of the conditions which come under 
the pledge given by the Government. Any such modifications, however, 
must only be made as a result of conference between the Government and 
the Trade Unions, and must be approved by the latter. 

Looking to the future of industry, nothing could be more disastrous 
than that the solemn pledge given to the workers by the Government should 

be broken. ,. r . 

us u*un. DU . Clause 6. 

'* That steps should be taken by the State to prevent exploitation of 
the. public by Trusts." 

The Question of Trusts. 

The tendency to amalgamation and to the formation at trusts is 
developing very rapidly in industry. There is already almost complete 
amalgamation in a number of industries, while amalgamations of banks, on 
which ail industries are dependent, has proceeded in reeent years at a rate 
which has caused considerable uneasiness with regard to possible consequences, 
There is little doubt, however, that the trend of industry in the future will 
be towards further amalgamation. 

Amalgamation between firms which are at present competing, although 
it has its dangers, has very definite advantages. It opens up possibilities 
of economy in production, and in the purchase and sale of the products of 
industry both in this country and abroad, which are by no means negligible 
The experience of the United States seems to point to the un desirability 
of introducing legislation crohibiting amalgamation. But if the policy of 
amalgamation is to develop rapidly, as apparently it will, there is obviously 
a danger that it may lead to the exploitation of the consumer, and steps 
must be taken to avoid this contingency. Careful consideration is being 
given to the subject by a Government Committee, and it would be premature 
to suggest the methods by which they may think it desirable to safeguard 



84 LIBERAL POLICY. 

the interests of the public. The resolution does not, however, attempt to 
deal with methods, hut merely lays down the principle, and it is thoroughly 
in accord with the traditions of the Liberal Party that the welfare of the 
community as a whole should be the first consideration. It should not he 
impossible to devise means whereby the legitimate advantages arising from 
amalgamation may be secured, without jeopardising the interests of the 
public. Possibly a public audit of accounts of trusts and some control over 
the selling prices might be among the safeguards it will be necessary to 

ad °P t « Clause 7. 

" That National control of monopolies such as railways, canals, 
and coal mines,should be maintained and extended with a view to ultimate 
ownership, if further experience proves it to be desirable;" 

National Control of Monopolies. 

During the War. the Government found It necessary partially to control 
the bulk of the industries in the country, and almost entirely to control 
railways, canals, and coal mines, which are virtual monopolies. Although 
the partial control exercised over industries which are not monopolies has 
been much criticised, there can be no doubt as to the beneficial consequences 
of the Government control of monopolies. 

Control of Railways. 

The financial terms of the State control are simple. Each Company is 
guaranteed its net traffic receipts in 1913, and, in addition, allowances are 
made for arrears of maintenance of rolling stock, war bonuses to railway 
workers, and other special circumstances. The direction of the railways is 
left in the hands of an Executive Committee, consisting of the managers of 
the principal companies ; but, subject to this direction, the actual manage- 
ment of individual railways has continued in the same hands as before the 
war. The amount of joint working has, of course, greatly increased, and 
precedence has been given in all eases to military, naval, and other Govern- 
ment traffic. Great economies have been effected by this joint working, 
with regard to which we may cite the fact stated in the " Board of Trade 
Journal " for April 11th, 1918, that railways were able in 1917 to cope with 
a goods traffic 60 per cent, heavier than before the war, although fewer 
locomotives and waggons were available. The financial results of Govern- 
ment eontrol are not known in detail, but Mr. Bonar Law said in the House 
of Commons in December, 1916, that it had been a great success from the 
point of view of the State, and had resulted in a substantial saving to the 
tax- payers. 

Control of Canals. 

The financial terms under which English and Irish Canals were taken 
over were the same as those allowed to the railways. But whereas railways 
were controlled almost immediately after the outbreak of war, canals, other 
than those owned by the railway companies, were left uncontrolled until 
1917. By that time the staff engaged in working them was so seriously 
depleted that their continued use seemed likely to become impossible if 
they were left in private hands. Consequently, all the canals in the country 
were taken over, and at the present time are controlled by the Canal Control 
Committee, which is responsible for 1,202 miles of waterway in England and 
304 miles in Ireland. In addition to this, the Railway Executive Committee 



LIBERAL POLICY. 85 

controls 1,025 miles of canal which belong to the railway companies, As 
a result, a considerable volume of traffic has been diverted from the railways 
to the canals, and the congestion on the former has been lessened. Although 
the Government has thus taken over the waterways, it was not found advis- 
able to eontrol the whole of the carriers, as their number was very great. 
Consequently, they were allowed to decide for themselves whether they 
would, or would not, come under the scheme of the Government. 

The advantages arising from the Government eontrol of railways and 
canals have been so marked that it is in the highest degree desirable that 
they should be secured permanently for the public benefit. Railways and 
canals are virtual or actual monopolies, but they are essential to the life 
of the community and ought to be regarded as we now regard roads. The 
whole matter must be very closely examined, before it can be decided whether 
they should be nationalised, but certainly in the future they should exist 
primarily for the service of the whole nation. 

Experience in such countries as Denmark and Belgium, where the rail- 
way and canal systems are highly developed, not with the object of im- 
mediate gain but that of public service, and where they are the property 
of the community, has shown in how many ways they may serve national 
ends. The extraordinary agricuitur al development in Belgium Is due in 
no small degree to its remarkable railway and canal system, Again, the 
great facilities for cheap workmen's tickets in that country have had a pro- 
found effect on the social life of the community. They have rendered labour 
more mobile, and thus lessened unemployment, and they have enabled urban 
workers to dwell in the country, with far-reaching and beneficial results. 
Both in Belgium and in Denmark, the policy of the Railway Departments 
has been to foster such agricultural and industrial expansion as was con- 
, sidered advantageous to the community as a whole, even although the rail- 
way or canal enterprise which it involved might not be immediately lucrative. 

Control of Mines. 

The exigencies of war also compelled the Government, in November, 
1916, to take over the control of coalmines. Under the financial agreement 
entered into, the owners surrender 95 per cent, of any profits in excess of 
the " profits standard," that is, the average profits of the best two out of 
the three years before the war, or the best four out of the six years before the 
war. In exchange for this, the State guarantees to them the pre-war profits 
standard, subject to a reduction where the output Is reduced. In virtue of 
the above arrangement, the Controller of Coal Mines has power to eontrol the 
production, distribution, prices and consumption of coal. In this way 
great economies have been effected in its transport, and all difficulties in 
connection with the fixing of prices have been overcome, Moreover, the 
knowledge on the part of the miners that they were working for the common 
good has lessened labour difficulties. Although the actual management 
of the mines has not changed hands, they are no longer run for the profit of 
the few, but for the benefit of the many. 

The resolution affirms that national control of such monopolies as rail- 
ways, canals, and coal mines should be maintained and extended. Only 
expedience can show how far the nationalisation of any industry may be 
desirable, but there will be general acceptance of the principle that monopolies 
should be conducted in the Interests of the general public, and if the com- 
munity is best served by their nationalisation then they must be nationalised. 



XL— HOUSING AND HEALTH. 
By Percy Alden, M.P. 



We are just beginning to see the close relation that exists between ail 
the various questions which go to make up what is called the Social Problem. 
No illustration of this could be more conclusive than the way in which bad 
or inadequate housing affects the health of the people. A nation that is 
not properly housed is not truly civilised, and cannot possibly be healthy. 
Compare the general death-rate or the infant mortality rate of a slum area 
with that of a district In which the houses are well built and the general 
amenities satisfactory, and it is easy to see there can be no solution of the 
problem of disease and ill-health apart from a drastic treatment of the hous- 
ing problem. This is a commonplace in theory, but the truth has hardly 
been recognised in practice. 

Influences of the War. 

During the war the question of housing has been made more difficult 
»!id complicated in two ways. In the first place, there Is a shortage of 
some hundreds of thousands of houses, and in the second place, owing to the 
rise in the cost of building materials and the restrictions imposed by the 
Government, building has been made almost an impossibility. In the same 
way the lack of labour and the cost of material has made it difficult to renew 
property falling into decay, while the clearance of an insanitary area is 
beyond the power even of a wealthy local authority. Even before the war 
the local authorities were finding it difficult to keep pace with the demand 
so far as the improvement of existing houses was concerned, whilfi the Act of 
1909 had broken down in respect of the clearance and re-planning of slum 
areas. 

The two facts, therefore, that we must bear in mind in considering what 
is to be done in respect of housing and town planning after the war are :—• ' 

(1.) The large shortage of houses in both urban and rural districts 
owing to the failure or inability of private owners and local 
authorities to build. 

(2.) The large number of existing houses and tenements which are alto- 
gether defective and insanitary. 

It is true that there has been an attempt made to deal with the housing 
of munition workers and shipyard employees in a few definite select areas : 
but even here the number of houses constructed has been inadequate, and 
year by year the situation has grown worse. It Is estimated by the Local 
Government Board that at the close of the war there will be a shortage of 
not less than 400,000 houses in England and Wafes. The Royal Commission 



LIBERAL POLICY. 87 

on Housing in Scotland estimates the shortage at 120,000 and considers that 
at least 200,000 new dwellings will be necessary If housing conditions are to 
be made satisfactory, while in Ireland, especially in towns like Dublin and 
Belfast, a very large number of new houses is required in order that the 
existing insanitary accommodation may be dealt with and improved. In 
its circular of 1915 the Local Government Board suggested that :— 

" Whilst not unduly relaxing the standard of public health adminis- 
tration in their area, local authorities should, as far as possible, refrain 
from requiring the execution of work the cost of which has to be borne 
by private individuals, unless the work is urgently necessary for the 
removal of nuisances or the protection of health." 
The general affect of the war on housing has been to put a stop to im- 
provement schemes and to make impossible new building. The situation, 
therefore, with which we shall be confronted at the close of the war when 
the men return from the front is one full of danger to the community as a 
whole. 

The need for a National Scheme. 
The Genial Committee of the National Liberal Federation which con- 
sidered this question, regarding a national housing and town planning scheme 
as a primary need, urged upon the Liberal Party the importance of taking 
strong measures. It considered « that the dtity of providing houses should 
rest with the local authorities and that the State should insure that schemes 
are prepared by them immediately so that the necessary building could 
start at once at the conclusion of the war." It added :— 

•<If the Local Authorities fail to discharge, their responsibilities 
within, a fixed period, the houses should be provided by the State. 
" In order to facilitate the work devolving on local Authorities— 
" (l) Any additional cost which is due to war conditions and is 
temporary should be treated, as a war charge and be borne by the Exchequer. 
" (2) The State, while encouraging Local Authorities to find their 
own capital, should definitely undertake to fiud it When the latter are 
unable to do so. 

" It urges Liberals in all parts oi the country to give Local Authorities 
their utmost possible support in carrying out a progressive Housing 

In this eonneetien it Is worth while quoting the words of Mr. Walter 
Long, when President of the Local Government Board. Referring to the 
necessity for housing the men who bad fought in the war, he said : " To let 
them come from horrible water-Jogged trenches to something little better 
than a pigsty here would indeed be criminal on the part of ourselves, and 
would be a negation of ail we have said during this War, that we can never 
repay those men for what they have done for us." But it is not merely 
that the nation would show base ingratitude to the men who have fought 
and suffered if we fail to supply them and their families with proper houses. 
We have also to remember that the future of this country depends upon the 
breeding of a strong, healthy and virile race and that nearly every aspect of 
social and industrial reconstruction emphasises the need for a sound physical 
basis which can only be provided by proper housing. At any cost we must 
build, and If the local authorities are unable to meet the emergency the com- 
munity must step in and undertake the responsibility. 



88 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Reasons for a Big Programme. 

Perhaps it would be as well to state some of the reasons why a big 
building programme is essential at the close of the war. 

(1.) The clearance of slum areas, or the closing of insanitary houses, 
is impossible until accommodation can be found for the inhabitants who are 
so displaced. 

(2.) The existence of insanitary and defective houses, together with 
the overcrowding which is on the increase, must have a very serious effect 
upon the health of the people and render the work of the Public Health 
Authorities more and more difficult. Lack of fresh air and sunlight is respon- 
sible for much of the infant and child mortality, as also for the spread of 
tuberculosis. 

(3). The Royal Commission on Industrial Unrest draws attention to 
the fact that insufficient and bad housing is a fruitful cause of unrest. If 
this is the case during the war, when millions of men are away from home 
on active service, what is it likely to be under the conditions created by 
demobilisation ? 

(4.) The lack of houses in rural districts is a great hindrance to agricul- 
ture and food production. The pre-war shortage of cottages in rural districts 
was estimated at 120,000. No building has taken place during the war, and 
the policy of the Board of Agriculture of ploughing up 2,000,000 additional 
acres of grass land, a policy generally approved, has made it necessary to 
supply some 30,000 more cottages in agricultural areas. If we wish men 
who have served as soldiers and sailors to go back to the land, they must 
have decent homes to which to return. 

(5.) In order to enable demobilisation to take place as rapidly as 
possible, useful employment must be found for all those engaged in the 
building trades who will naturally wish to return to their own occupations. 
In this way the housing problem links itself up with the unemployed problem. 
Nearly ail the materials for building can be obtained in this country. The 
immediate need will be State encouragement in the shape of financial assist- 
ance to the local authorities. If such financial assistance is forthcoming, 
there is no reason why something like 1,000,000 men should not be em- 
ployed in the work of building construction after the war is over. It would 
be a far better way of utilising their services than by continuing to pay 
separation allowances for unproductive work. 

Private Enterprise Unequal to the Occasion. 

We must not underestimate the difficulties that confront us in embark- 
ing on a large and comprehensive scheme of housing, and In the first place 
it must be admitted that private enterprise is unequal to the occasion. 
Working class houses are for the most part erected by the speculative builder 
to sell. In a large number of cases the purchaser obtains a loan from a 
Building Society and either occupies the house himself or lets it to other 
tenants. Public Utility Societies, Co-operative Societies and various Trusts 
have been responsible for building a large number of houses, but it would 
not be untrue to say that the increasing eost of building due to dearer labour 
and dearer materials and restrictive bye-law regulations has made other 
forms of investment more attractive. 

The present increase in the cost of building over pre-war prices is not 
less than 70 per cent., and even when comparatively normal conditions are 



LIBERAL POLICY. 89 

re-established some years hence, it is estimated that tbey will he still some 
30 per cent, to 40 per cent, higher than before the war. In that case it is 
clear that rents must go up, and houses built immediately after the war, 
unless the State intervenes, will probably be rented twice as high as similar 
houses built in 1913. We must remember also that the State before the 
war was lending money at three and a-half per cent., and the rate of Interest 
is now five and a-half per cent. The effect of this will mean that not only 
will the new houses be rented at a much higher rate, but also the old houses 
six months after the war are likely to Increase in value when the increase of 
Rent and Mortgage interest (War Restrictions) Act, 1915 ceases to operate. 
All the authorities, therefore, have regretfully come to the conclusion that 
we must not rely upon private enterprise to meet the shortage of houses and 
that in any case if rents are not to immediately leap up the Government 
must step in and subsidise new housing with a view to cutting down rents 
both on the new and the old. 

Capital and Financial Assistance. 

Failing private enterprise, from which we must not expect too much, 
the primary responsibility for building will rest on the local authority, and 
the view was expressed at the Liberal Federation meetings that the definite 
duty of preparing plans and of erecting sufficient houses should be thrown 
upon these bodies is the view that generally finds acceptance. But if it is 
the primary responsibility of the local authorities to build, it is none the 
less the primary responsibility of the State to provide the necessary capital 
upon such conditions as will not impose upon these authorities a heavy 
burden of debt. The immediate difficulty that faces us in the shortage of 
houses is the result of war conditions. The President of the Local Govern- 
ment Board, replying to a deputation, of the Trade Union Congress on 
November 20th, 1917, said, " The War Cabinet had decided to afford sub- 
stantial financial assistance to those local authorities who were prepared to 
embark upon housing schemes immediately after the war. The Govern- 
ment had committed itself to this housing policy, and he had persuaded the 
War Cabinet that it would be the foremost question after the war and that 
any money available in the country would have to be allocated for housing 
purposes." 

The State, then, will have to provide the neeessary capital. But in 
addition to capital, financial assistance must be forthcoming. No induce- 
ment should be offered to local authorities to delay building, and if the 
additional cost is regarded as a war charge and borne by the Exchequer, 
there is no reason why any delay should take place. Finally, where the 
local authorities fail to take action, the State must step in and carry out the 
housing schemes on its own account. 

How to deal with the Inflated Cost of Building. 
It may be worth while considering as a method for dealing with the 
inflated cost of building the recommendation of the Royal Commission in 
Scotland :— 

'That to enable local authorities to fulfil the statutory obligation 
above referred to the State should, for a period of seven yesrs subsequent 
to the war, make up by way of subsidy the difference between the rentals 
received by local authorities from their housing schemes and the outgoings 
for such properties 



90 LIBERAL POLICY. 

" That at the end of the period of seven years the Government should 

have the houses which have been erected during that period valued, 

and should then pay the local authorities the whole capital loss, i.e., 

the difference between the cost of the houses and the ascertained value." 

This method would have the advantage over a fixed grant-in-aid of a 

percentage of the cost, inasmuch as such a grant might be more or less than 

the amount necessary to deal with the possible decline in building cost. 

This in effect is the method adopted by Mr. Hayes Fisher in his new Bill 

introduced on October 28th. It is almost impossible to say what the real 

difference between the pre-war cost of building and the normal post-war 

conditions will really be, and therefore the method of the Scottish Royal 

Commission has distinct advantages. 

Taking it for granted, then, that the nation recognises the importance 
of this question and the necessity for State assistance, we must be on our 
guard lest the increase in rents which is sure to follow Is not out of all pro- 
portion to the increase in wages. We expect a general increase in the cost of 
living of which rent is a part, but we do not expect that that increase in the 
cost of living should be borne by the working-classes and the community 
generally, without any regard whatever to the unfortunate position in which 
so many of the best elements of the population will find themselves at the 
conclusion of the war. The housing problem is a part of the poverty problem, 
and economic rent cannot be paid St. the working classes are inadequately 
remunerated for their labour. 

Purchase of Land : Building Materials. 

If housing schemes are to go forward immediately after peace is declared, 
action must be taken by the Government to facilitate the purchase of land. 
Some speedier method of procedure must be devised and if necessary re- 
course must be had to the Defence of the Realm Act. What is wanted is 
compulsory immediate purchase without costly legal proceedings. If in 
addition to this the State could see its way to purchase building materials 
and distribute them at cost prices, it would be a further inducement to the 
local authorities to take immediate action. The purchase of building 
materials would make it easy to give effect to the recommendation of Sir 
Tudor Walters's Committee in respect of standardisation, and the Local 
Government Board would be justified in putting the utmost pressure upon 
the local authority with a view that the plans of the houses constructed 
should be of a high standard and that every opportunity for town planning 
of new areas should be seized and utilised. 

Finally, in view of the Local Government Board's Circular of March 
18th, and the Housing Bill referred to above, in which the State undertakes 
to pay 75 per cent, of any estimated financial deficit resulting from a housing 
scheme, we would urge that a considerable number of local authorities may 
be unwilling to bear the remaining 25 per cent, of loss ; that such loss should 
in justice fall upon the National Exchequer ; that such an offer will clearly 
exclude all private enterprise and that ultimately the burden will be thrown 
upon the State. It is far better that the State should take the burden of 
responsibility from the very outset, since sooner or later the opinion of the 
country will compel the construction of the new houses so necessary to the 
health of the people. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 91 

Drastic Measures Necessary. 

The Bill to which we have referred is, of course, only a part of a larger 
m&asure which the Local Government Board has in hand, and perhaps it 
is sufficient to say that the real test will come when the local authorities 
generally are asked to undertake what, according to the L. G. B., over 
1,000 of them have already promised to do, viz., select their sites, choose 
their architects and build with Government loans on the understanding 
that the State will bear 75 per cent, of any deficit which may occur. What- 
ever the f u|ute may bring forth in the shape of a Housing Bill, this much is 
certain^ that the country will not be satisfied with anything short of drastic 
measures, and such a Bill should ensure :— 

(1.) That there is a sufficiency of houses for the whole population ; 

(2.) That these houses are well built, well drained, well ventilated and 

well lighted ; 

(3.) That these houses should be built in accordance with a definite 
plan sanctioned by the Local Government Board and that a strict limit 
should be placed on the number of houses to be constructed on any given 
area of land. 

HEALTH, 

Notwithstanding the great improvement which has taken place in our 
national health, there la. a growing feeling that much of the inefficiency and 
overlapping in Government Departments dealing with public health could 
and should be remedied. The need for co-ordination and a more vigorous 
attempt to save human life has been emphasised first by th© wastage of war, 
second by concern for the health of war workers, and last by certain aspects 
both of the birth-rate and oi infant mortality. It is true that the United 
Kingdom has an advantage over the other belligerent nations, with the 
exception of America, in respect of the surplus of births over deaths. In 
Germany, Austria and Hungary there has been a large surplus of deaths 
over births. It is not necessary to give these vital statistics in detail ; but, 
apart from the loss on the battlefield, Germany and Austria-Hungary have 
each lost by deaths over births something like 600,000. 

Greater Public Health Activity. 
It will not do to rest content with our superior position, and it is a 
matter for satisfaction that the actual and potential loss of life in the war has 
aroused the interest of the nation and stimulated the Government to greater 
public health activity. Measures taken to safeguard the health o! war 
workers as a result of the Committee on the Health of Munition Workers will 
react favourably when we come to deal with the health of the working classes 
generally. The reports published on industrial canteens, housing, 
shorter hours, fatigue and welfare work, If generally adopted, will 
mean a more careful oversight of the conditions of industrial life as a branch 
of preventive hygiene, and in this way become an important element in 
industrial efficiency. We are apt, in discussing causes of disease, to over- 
look factors of causation like low wages, inadequate or unclean food, insani- 
tary housing or overcrowding, intemperance and lack of hygiene. The new 
view of preventive medicine has regard to heredity, social and industrial 
conditions and the whole environment of the people. 



92 LIBERAL POLICY. 

The Proposed Ministry of Health. 
All that is required is to examine the close relation between Insanitary 
housing and such a disease as tuberculosis to come to the conclusion that the 
new campaign in favour of health for all classes of the community must be 
one which deals with every sifia of life, and it is for that reason that so much 
stress is now laid on the importance of establishing a new Ministry to be 
called the Ministry of Health. It is not the case that such a Ministry can in 
a brief space of time create a revolution in the health of the peopie or diminish 
rapidly either the death or disease rate, but the first step to real improve- 
ment lies in wider powers, better co-ordination of all existing departments 
concerned with public health, and a more resolute attempt to attack every 
side of the problem at the same time. You cannot separate! off the health 
of the worker from the problem of housing. You cannot in dealing with 
disease, as it is found in the industrial ranks, neglect the fact of long hours, 
or arduous work, for there is no doubt that fatigue is one of the foundations of 
disease. You cannot deal with the question of fatigue, without attacking 
the problem of cheap and well-cooked food, since a well-equipped canteen in 
every big industrial concern improves both the health of the worker and the 
output of the factory. 

The Care of the Young. 

The more we study the problem of disease, especially as it affects the 
poorer classes of the community, the more certain becomes the conviction 
that the first and most important step is to care for the young. The nation 
that scientifically watches over the health of the children is the nation that 
will survive whether in industry or in war. The future of this commonwealth 
is with the young, and the protection of the mother and the child is abso- 
lutely essential if the welfare of the nation is to be safeguarded. " Every 
society," said Mr. Asquith, " is judged and survives according to the material 
and moral minima which it prescribes to its members." No waste is so 
irretrievable as the waste of the rising generation. Unless you start with 
the child, you run the risk of having to deal later on with disease in a cumula- 
tive form which manifests itself either in ill-health and inefficiency or in a 
high general death-rate. 

Accordingly, the first task of a Ministry of Health would be to deal with 
the problem of child life. Perhaps it would be as well to make clear the 
scope of the Ministry of Health as contemplated in the Bill which has 
been introduced. It will include : — 

(1.) Maternity, infant welfare and midwifery. 

(2.) The work of the National Insurance Commission. 

(3.) The whole question of housing as it affects the health of the people. 

(4.) The sanitation and public health work of the Local Government 
Board, including the treatment of venereal diseases and tuberculosis. 

(5.) It will take over the functions discharged by the Poor Law 
Guardians in relation to sickness and infirmity, leaving the remainder of 
the Poor Law to other departments of the Government. 

Health and Welfare Work. 

It may be necessary at a subsequent stage for the Ministry of Health 
to take over the whole of the Industrial health and industrial welfare work in 
connection with workshops and factories which is at present controlled by 



LIBERAL POLICY. 93 

the Home Office and Ministry of Munitions ; but whether it would be wise 
to attempt to absorb the medical work of the Board of Education is more 
doubtful. The general feeling which has been frequently expressed is that 
the Board of Education under its Chief Medical Officer has done a very re- 
markable work in connection with the inspection and treatment of school 
children, and the probability is that it will continue for the present to deal 
with all children over the age of five. There ought to be no great difficulty in 
effecting the administrative reforms which would enable the representatives 
of the new Ministry, the Home Office and the Board of Education to co- 
operate 4n the great work of improving the health of the nation. It is not 
necessary that the new department should be complete in every detail, but 
it should allow of ' gradual development and lead in the end to unity of 
system and control. 

But even before the Ministry of Health is established there is much that 
may be done to improve the public health of the nation, and this is especially 
true In all matters appertaining to infant and child welfare. It has been 
well said that " a high infantile mortality necessarily indicates a prevalence 
of those causes and conditions which in the long run determine a degeneration 
of race." We have made a big advance in the saving of child life, as is shown 
by comparing the deeennium 1901-1910 with the four years previous to the 
war, 1911-1914. If the number of deaths up to five years of age had been as 
great in the four years preceding the war as in the ten years referred to, 
144,000 more children would have died than actually did die in that four 
years. That is to say, we saved on an average 36,000 lives a year. The 
largest number of deaths occur in the first year after birth, being double the 
number occurring in the next four years of life combined, and of the total 
deaths in infancy nearly one-third occur in the first month and about one- 
fifth in the first week after birth. These figures show that we must deal 
with ante-natal conditions and then give special care to the infant as soon 
as it is born. 

Maternity and Infant Welfare Centres. 

Women naturally, therefore, attach much importance to the establish- 
ment of maternity and infant welfare centres in every district throughout 
the length and breadth of the land. In all poor districts every woman in 
an advanced state of pregnancy should be so cared for and guarded that she 
is not allowed to engage in occupations involving strain and over-exertion, 
since she is thereby risking the life of the child and diminishing her own 
ability to nurse the child after it is born. There is no such thing as a normal 
infant death-rate. A favourable ante-natal environment for the child, and 
proper treatment for the mother at this critical period of the life, demonstrate 
conclusively that this is the case. It is just because the poorer classes are 
not surrounded by these favourable conditions, that there is a difference 
between the death-rates of infants under one month in Hampstead and 
Shoreditch of some 25 per cent, and in Brighton of 40 per cent, in the poorest 
families as compared with the well-to-do. 

These illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely. It is sufficient to 
say that the infant death-rate among the working-class is apparently one in 
four, among the middle class one in six, and in the upper class one in ten or 
twelve. The first step, therefore, is to carry out as completely as possible 
the provisions of the new Maternity and Child Welfare Act, and every 



94 LIBERAL POLICY, 

local authority should be encouraged to take immediate action. Grants of half 
the cost are now available for Lying-in Homes, for provision of Rome Helps, 
for the provision of food for expectant and nursing mothers* for the hospital 
treatment of children up to five years of age, for establishing creches and 
day nurseries and convalescent homes, and, finally, for providing homes not 
only for the children of widowed and deserted mothers, but also for illegitimate 
children. The women electors in every district should see to It that the 
local authorities and the voluntary agencies unite to carry out the provisions 
of this Act. No mother, however poor, and no infant, whatever the con- 
dition of the parents, should now suffer for lack of care and attention at critical 
periods. An effort must be made to combine and unify the work of hospitals 
and doctors, midwives and health visitors, monthly nurses and home helps. 
Midwives should be public servants paid partly by the local authority and 
partly by the State, as in the case of Medical Officers of Health. In this 
way we shall build up a sure defence against the inroad of disease, affecting 
a reduction in expenditure due to such disease and a great improvement in 
our national health. 

The Question of the School Child. 

Next comes the question of the school child. Under the new Act which 
became law last Session, which will always be known as Mr. Fisher's Act, 
reforms are effected which strike at the very root of disease and inefficiency. 
This Act requires every Education Authority to formulate a progressive 
and comprehensive organisation of education in its area. It either requires 
or encourages : — 

(1.) Nursery schools for children from two to five. 

(2.) Central schools or classes for practical instruction. 

(3.) Similar classes for advanced instruction. 

(4.) Holiday and school eamps and playing fields. 

(5.) Centres for physical training, school baths, etc. 

(6.) Schools for physically defective and epileptic children. But in 
addition to this it makes compulsory : — 

(1.) Medical inspection in all schools. 

(2.) Medical treatment in all elementary schools. 

There are other important clauses in the Act dealing with juvenile em- 
ployment, but perhaps the most important clause of all so far as the health of 
the nation is concerned is that which makes medical treatment compulsory 
in all elementary schools. Up to the present about 220 local education 
authorities provide some sort of medical treatment by means of school 
clinics, and about 480 clinics have now been established ; but we are only 
just on the threshold of a new departure which will revolutionise the health 
of the child if only the citizens in each locality will back up the central 
authority in its attempt to enforce the new legislation. The great majority 
of counties have no medical treatment at all at present, and yet the need 
for such treatment is overwhelming. 

Medical inspection has shown that something like 1,000,000 children of 
school age are so physically and mentally deficient that they are unable 
to derive full benefit from the education which is given to them. About 
500,000 are suffering from diseases of the ear, the throat and lymphatic 
glands. It is estimated that 3,000,000, or nearly halt the elementary school 
population, have dental trouble, or decayed teeth, that 90,000 children have 



LIBERAL POLICY. 95 

heart trouble and 60,000 tuberculosis in one of its various forms. Here is 
an immense opportunity for the new interest in welfare, work to manifest itself, 
and by means of medical treatment of sehool children more could be done in 
one year to secure the health of the nation than in ten years after these 
children have reached the stage of adolescence. 

The Treatment of Consumption. 

There is still much lee-way to make up in the treatment of tuberculosis. 
It is impossible, of course, to eradicate consumption without drastic dealing 
with the housing problem ; but much can be done if much more satisfactory 
financial provision were made for the construction of additional sanatoria 
and for the treatment of tuberculosis in special local clinics. Above all, in 
order to stamp out this scourge, fresh air and sunlight are necessary. Sana- 
toria schools for children should be provided and open air work generally 
increased. What applies to housing in respect of tuberculosis applies also 
to factories and workshops. The standard of ventilation and of lighting is 
not yet high enough, and the Home Office, which has the whole of the industrial 
health and the Industrial welfare of the worker under its eontrol, will have 
ruthlessly to enforce its regulations if this disease is to be got under control. 

A Spirit of Progress Essential. 

Finally, whatever changes we may make in our central departments, 
and however anxious we may be for the reconstruction of our public health 
administration, no great measure of success will be achieved unless the local 
authorities can be inspired with the spirit of progress. This desirable end 
will be obtained when the pressure from above is reinforced by a policy of 
ample grants-in-aid in order to stimulate the local health authority in the 
widely extended medical service now entrusted to its care. Experience 
has shown that it is no use imposing duties from above unless you give assist- 
ance and advice at the same time. 

Establish first of all your Ministry of Health, appointing a man of wide 
experience with knowledge not only of health matters, but aisc of local 
government. Appoint an advisory committee composed largely of the 
Chief Medical Officers of different departments, whose business it should be 
to make representations as to the changes that are required and the legisla- 
tion that is necessary to give effect to the more scientific views of public 
health which the stress of the war has brought into prominence. Establish 
your new department on such lines as to allow of a gradual development, 
get it into working order if possible before demobilisation begins, and in this 
way you will do much to prevent the great waste of human life that is now 
going on and lay firm the foundations of the new commonwealth. 



XIL— THE LAND AND AGRICULTURE. 

By the Right Hon. F. D. Acland, M.P. 



I have been asked to deal with certain aspects of the above question, 
and select for brief consideration the questions of access to land by public 
authorities, allotments, and the wages of the agricultural worker. In addition 
to the question of housing, which is dealt with below, they are among the 
most fundamental if a sound basis is to be laid for agricultural reconstruction. 

Compulsory Acquisition of Land. 

The purposes for which Public Authorities will need rural land after the 
war are many and diverse. Towns should not be so concentrated. Swift 
and cheap means of communication along arterial roads should enable slums 
to be swept away and replaced by open spaces and bold town planning work 
in country districts should be done by our great Urban Authorities. Returl- 
ing sailors and soldiers, who have learnt during the war to work in association 
should be given the chance of settlement in co-operative colonies. Reclama- 
tion of our waste places on moors and estuaries should be undertaken. The 
timber supplies of the kingdom should be made secure by large schemes of 
afforestation carried out by a Central Authority. The arrears in the work 
of finding small holdings for approved applicants should be overtaken as 
soon as possible, and further -holdings in large numbers should be provided 
for ex-Service men. There should be steady periodical surveys parish by 
parish in our country-side, and where it is found that those who have the 
responsibility and the power have not used it for making the villagers really 
independent, with a fair prospect before them of advancing on an agri- 
cultural highway, the land must be resumed by the State and placed under 
public control. For all these purposes, and for others, easy, cheap, sure 
access to land by compulsory powers is necessary. It may not often ~be 
necessary to resort to compulsion; but unless the power is there, there will in 
many districts be no chance of progress. 

Our system of acquiring land for public purposes is at present entirely 
out of date and in need of alteration root and branch. It need not be described, 
for all of us know instances of the abuses for which it is responsible in saddling 
rate and taxpayers with enormous unjust burdens, and in giving to private 
owners often three or four times the amount thut can fairly be estimated 
as the real value of the land. A new code should replace the Lands Clauses 
Acts, for unless a new code is set up very promptly, there is no hope at all 
that land will be used, as it should be, for the benefit of the whole community. 
The whole matter is difficult and complicated, but certain points may be 
mentioned which are simple and practically unquestioned by those who have 
studied the subject. 

1. The complicated and much too expensive procedure of private bill 
legislation should be abandoned, and an impartial sanctioning 



LIBERAL POLICY. 97 

authority should be appointed for the special purpose of considering 
all schemes put forward by public departments or local authorities. 

2. When the general outlines of a scheme of acquisition have been 
sanctioned by a sanctioning authority the question of the compen- 
sation to be assessed should go before a single arbitrator appointed 
from a panel of whole-time valuers whose services should be retained 
by the State. 

3. The general basis of the compensation to be given for land acquired 
compulsorily should be what the land would realise if sold by a 
willing seller, and ali the customary allowances on account of the 
acquisition being compulsory should be abandoned, and no special 
compensation should be given on account of the land having a 
special value to the purchaser. 

4. In determining the compensation for severance from or injurious 
affection to the remaining lands belonging to the same owner, regard 
should be had to the extent to which the land may be benefited by 
the purchase, as well as to the extent to which it may be depreciated. 

5. Where public bodies have enhanced the value of land by any 
improvement, they shall be entitled to share in the increased value 
by means of betterment charges upon those whose interest in 
property has been enhanced. 

6. Awards should state separately the compensation given in respect 
of each particular interest in land and eaeh particular item in the 
claim made. 

7. Promoters of schemes should not be bound to proceed with them 
on account of having served notices to treat, but should be able to 
withdraw at any time on paying for any damage suffered and the 
costs incurred. 

8. The arbitrator should have powef to disallow costs unnecessarily 
incurred, and counsel should not be employed unless specially 
authorised by the arbitrator. 

A committee of the Reconstruction Committee, of which Mr. Leslie 
Scott is chairman, has been for some time considering these and other similar 
questions. Their report when published should be carefully examined, and 
if it is found to be on the lines above suggested every effort should be made 
to secure its adoption by the Government and the early passing of the 
necessary legislation. 

V 

Allotments. 

One of the main purposes for which it will be necessary to aequire land 
permanently will be allotments. The allotment movement during the war 
has grown beyond ail recognition. The movement has all been pure gain, for 
the allotment work km been done in the spare time of the holders and has not 
been taken from their war work. By relieving this country of need for food 
from abroad it has enabled many tens of thousands of American soldiers with 
all their supplies to be taken to France. And it has come to stay. Hundreds 
of thousands of holders who took up cultivation merely as a war measure 
have been deeply attracted by it, and desire security of tenure of their war 
plots just as ardently as does any country dweller who may look to his 
allotment as a stepping stone to a small holding. The land taken by Local 



98 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Authorities under Defence of the Realm Regulations is to be kept under 
normal circumstances for at least two years after the war, but more than 
this is wanted. 

The principle should be that land, whether taken in this way or not, 
should not be resumed under private ownership until after a public enquiry 
held by a public authority at which it has been shown that the land is 
Immediately required for some public purpose morcuessential to the community 
than allotment cultivation. Moreover, in all schemes of town planning — and 
In future no town should be allowed to grow without a proper town planning 
scheme— either good gardens should be provided with all the houses built, 
or permanent provision should be made for allotments close to the homes of 
the householders. All local authorities should, subject to the approval of a 
Central Authority, have independent powers for securing land for allotments, 
and it should no longer be possible for a major authority to delay or veto the 
schemes of a minor authority. It should be made easy to secure direct action 
by the State or by some Authority to which a central department has delegated 
its functions in default of action by local Authorities. Co-operative societies 
of allotment holders so organised as to secure the best possible cultivation, 
and the best use of co-operative methods in purchase of requirements and 
disposal of produce, should be encouraged in every way possible. They have 
during the war proved to be not only Invaluable in food production, but a 
most effective means of getting persons of different elasses and aspects towards 
life to co-operate in the best forms of self-help and of help to the eommunity. 

Agricultural Workers' Wages. 

The Corn Production Act, 1917, set up Agricultural Wages Boards for 
England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. It has been claimed that securing 
a minimum wage for the agricultural worker was one side of a bargain with the 
farmer of which the other side was guaranteeing him minimum prices for his 
* rain crops. This argument was never used by the Government, which was 
responsible for the bill, and it should not be admitted. Before the war all 
political parties were agreed that the low level of wages in many of our rural 
counties was nothing less than a disgrace to what should be the greatest of 
our industries, and that it could only be remedied by setting up Wages Boards 
under State authority. The question of guaranteed minimum prices should 
be examined on its merits, and far more examination of the economics of 
agriculture, and Of costs of production both actual and under the best 
conditions of cultivation and organisation is necessary before final 
Judgment can be given. But the system of regulating wages under Govern- 
ment authority has come to stay, and the Wages Board and the district wages 
committee which work with it should not be allowed to disappear when the 
Corn Production Act expires In 1022. The work of the Board has already 
secured to the worker, with the consent of the great mass of the best of the 
farmers, a real improvement both of conditions and prospects, and signs are 
not wanting, In spite of the absence of most of the best of the younger workers 
on war service, that the improved status of the worker has resulted in steadier 
and keener work. 

Minimum wages have been fixed for the ordinary agricultural worker 
varying from 30s. a week in most of the eastern and southern counties to 
82s. and 33s. in the suburban counties, and 34s., 35s., and 36s. in the North- 
west and North. Hours of work have been fixed, after which overtime rates 



LIBERAL POLICY. 99 

have to be paid, which are generally 48 in the four winter months and 54 
for the rest of the year. Overtime rates have to be paid at time-and-a-quarter 
on weekdays, and all Sunday work is treated as overtime at time-and-a-half. 
If the worker presents himself for work on weekdays the full week's wage has 
to be paid, even though the hours worked are less than those named. There 
is an undertaking that after the war all work beyond that of a customary full 
morning shall on one day of the week be treated as overtime — which will in 
practice secure a Saturday half holiday. Special classes of labour — the horse- 
man, stockman and shepherd — have generally secured rates of wage of 5s. 
or 6s. in advance of those above quoted — for the customary hours of work — 
and appropriate rates have been Gxed for boys and for women and girls. An 
agreement has been reached which should gradually in practice do away 
with the worst aspects of the tied cottage system, that the Wages Board 
will when housing conditions are stabilised establish a wage which shall 
include a sum sufficient to provide an economic rent for a good house and 
garden. Already it has been secured that a less deduction shall be made from 
wages on account of a house which has defects of sanitation, accommodation 
for repair, than for a house free from defects. 

Even though it is doubtful how far the increased wage is a true measure 
of the increase in cost of living, these conditions taken together provide in 
some of the more backward and out-of-the-way country districts no less than 
a labourers' charter. They serve to illustrate how valuable the system of 
Wages Boards may be in securing that higher standard of life on which our 
Liberal policy insists. It should therefore be an essential part of our policy 
to back up the work of the Board, and to see that it becomes permanently and 
fully established. 



XIII.— TEMPERANCE REFORM. 

By Charles Roberts, M.P. 



The resolution on the Temperance problem after the war passed by the 
National Liberal Federation at Manchester brings home the fact that with 
the coming of peace that problem will again come forward and require solution. 
During the war agitation of the kind previously familiar has been shut down. 
A problem affecting so closely the social life of the people never ought to have 
been a matter of controversy between political parties. But the Unionist 
Party is not able to resist the temptation of securing the help of the election- 
eering energies of the Trade, and when at the outbreak of war matters of 
controversy between the parties were for the time being shelved, the Govern- 
ment held that the question could be discussed only in its bearings on the 
conduct of the war. With the coming of peace, agitation must revive ; and it 
will doubtless be coloured by the experiences gained, both at home and on the 
other side of the Atlantic, of the restrictions imposed as war-measures on the 
liquor Trade. It may also be anticipated that the millions of new women 
voters will take a special interest in a question which directly affects the 
home and child- welfare. There will be a new driving power behind reforms 
which in the past have appealed to those who think but which have had weak 
doctoral backlog in the constituencies. 

Restrictions in Great Britain. 

During the war, then, the Trade in this country has been affected 
through three different channels : 

1. The output of intoxicants has been heavil? curtailed. This process 
began with Mr. Walter Runciman's Output of Beer (Restriction) Act, 1918, 
which proposed to reduce the output of beer by 15 per cent. In the year 
before the war there were thirty-six million barrels of beer brewed, and, as 
the menace of the submarine grew, these were cut down by successive steps 
to 10,000,000 standard barrels in February, 1917. At that date the con- 
sumption of wines and spirits was to be cut down to 75 per cent of the 1913 
basis. The distilling of spirits for potable purposes appears to have ceased 
by the beginning of 1917. It should, of course, be said that these barrels of 
a " standard •" strength have been increased by a process of dilution to a 
considerably higher figure for purposes of actual sale ; and some addition to 
consumption was afterwards allowed. For 1917-8 the consumption of 
spirits was about 50 per cent, of the previous year. The authorised standard 
barrelage of beer was also reduced by about 50 per cent. ; but allowing for 
dilution, the real reduction was about 30 per cent. 

2. Taxation of beer and spirits has been heavily increased, the burden, 
of course, being passed on by the Trade by means of higher prices to the 
consumers. In 1918 Mr. Bonar Law, speaking of " the big profits that have 
been made in the Trade during the past year,*' raised the duty to SCs. per 
gallon of spirits, and the beer duty to 50s. a barrel. The position in the 



LIBERAL POLICY. 101 

Trade was highly artificial ; with the shortage of supplies, any prices eonld be 
demanded, and the Food Controller used his power to fix maximum prices, 
which would leave a fair profit to those engaged in the trade. 

3. The great bulk of the war-time restrictions on the Trade have, of 
course, been imposed by the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic), set up 
under the Defence of the Realm (Amendment No. 3) Act, 1913, which provided 
for State control of the Liquor Trade in any area on the ground that war- 
material was being made or loaded or unloaded or dealt with in transit in the 
area or that men belonging to the naval and military forces were assembled 
In the area. For a full account of these restrictions reference should be made 
to the third and fourth Reports of the Board.* As during the war, the whole 
country became practically a military, naval, or munition centre, it is not 
surprising that by April, 1917, the Board's operations covered nineteen- 
twentieths of the area of Great Britain and affected a population of 38 out of 
41 millions. The more remarkable of the changes which it has Introduced 
may be summarised as follows. The sale or supply of intoxicants for con- 
sumption on the premises was restricted on week-days to 2 or 2| hours in 
the middle of the day, and to three (or in some cases two) hours in the evening. 
On Sundays, where the sale of drink Is allowed, the hours of sale or supply 
were made somewhat shorter still. Thus the number of hours of week-day 
sale was reduced from 16 or 19| to 4 or 5| hours, and the advantage of the 
afternoon break in the hours in preventing the habit of soaking is obvious. 
Sunday Closing was introduced for Monmouthshire, the Forest of Dean, and 
in the part of Cumberland adjacent to Scotland, including the eity of Carlisle. 
The hours of sale for consumption off the premises were still more drastically 
curtailed, and measures were taken to prevent street-hawking of liquor, and 
the pushing of liquor for sale in the home. Treating and sales of liquor on 
credit, subject to exceptions for meals, were absolutely prohibited. Through- 
out the area under the Board's control spirits had to be dilated, so as to be . 
30 per cent, under " proof," and the limit of permissible dilution was extended 
to 50 per eent. under proof. The sale and supply of spirits in licensed premises 
and clubs was prohibited over the Northern and North Western parts of 
Scotland, North Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, and a part of Argyll, at the 
urgent request of the naval authorities ; the evening sale of spirits in a part 
of the Southern military and transport area was stopped with beneficial 
results. A special scheme of supervision was introduced in the Clyde Dock 
area and at Rosyth ; and in cases of serious offence, 168 licensed houses have 
been closed for the remainder of the current licensing year. 

Secondly, the restrictive side of the Board's operations must be sup- 
plemented with a reference to its policy of establishing or Inducing employers 
to establish industrial eanteens. By March, 1918, there had been established 
840 such canteens, in connection with munition works employing about a 
million workers. These eanteens are with few exceptions " dry " ; and in 
some of these exceptions, the intoxicants are restricted to one pint of beer for 
each person for consumption with a meal ; and in others the sale of light beer 
under 2% is permitted. As to the beneficial effects of this policy of supplying 
good food to the employees, reference may be made to the Reports. The 
work is now under the control of the Ministry of Munitions. 



* Third and Fourth Report of the Central Control Board (Xiquor Traffic) Cd. 8558 and Cd. 
9055, price 8d. each. H.M. Stationery Office, 28, Abingdon Street, S.W. 1. 



102 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Thirdly, as is well-known, in four areas (Carlisle, Gretna, Invergordon 
and Enfield) the Control Board have taken the direct control of licensed 
premises into their own hands by a policy of outright purchase. The official 
account of this experiment is given in pages 14-21 of the Control Board's 
Fourth Report. 

Prohibition in Canada. 

Let us now briefly glance at the position on the other side of the Atlantic, 
for the remarkable achievements in Canada and the United States during the 
war can hardly fail to impress public opinion in this country. In Canada, 
apart from the ease of Prince Edward Island, which has been prohibitionist 
since 1907, province after province has been completely cleared of the 
Liquor Trade. Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan 
became prohibitionist in 1916 ; Newfoundland, New Brunswick and British 
Columbia In 1917 ; in Quebec 84% of its area is " dry " under its Local Option 
Law. This prohibitionist policy in the provinces of Canada was generalised 
by Act of the Dominion Government for the whole Dominion in April, 1918. 
Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, in answer to a request for 
Information, recently telegraphed : — 

" Prohibition of importation, manufacture and transportation brought 
into effect by Dominion Government on April 1st, 1918, has been too 
recent to announce definite results. It will of course cut down materially 
Customs and Excise revenue. Prohibition of sale as provincial measure 
has been in force in eight out of nine provinces sufficiently long to 
realise and confirm expectation of great benefits, moral, commercial 
and industrial consequent on its enforcement." 

Prohibition in the United States. 

The position at the present moment in the United States, according to 
the latest available information, is as follows : — 

1. State prohibition has been enacted in 32 States and territories, is in 
operation in most of these, and will apply to all during the present year. 

2. The Prohibition amendment to the Federal Constitution, which 
requires ratification by 36 States to be effective, has up to date been ratified 
by 14, of which five were " wet " States ; and it is quite possible that the 
36 will be seeured by April, 1919, and in that case the ratification will be 
effective twelve months later. 

3. On the outbreak of war the Congress prohibited the further manu- 
facture of spirits, and empowered the President to commandeer all existing 
stocks of spirits for munition purposes, and to prohibit the sale of beer. The 
manufacture of beer is prohibited as from 1st December, 1918, and existing 
stocks of beer will probably be consumed by the middle of January, 1919. 

4. Both Houses of Congress have passed the bill entirely prohibiting 
the Liquor Traffic in the United States during the war and demobilisation 
as from July 1st, 1919. This includes prohibition of the import of all intoxi- 
cants from abroad. 

The effects of Restriction in Great Britain. 

Th* Trade, then, has been handled across the Atlantic with a thorough- 
going and drastic vigour, which has left English reformers acutely disappointed 
with the contrasted timidity of our regulations. But it would be a serious 



LIBERAL POLICY. 103 

misreading of the faets, if we failed to recognise the salutary progress which 
our control of the Liquor Trade within its limits has achieved. The factors 
directly affecting the Trade have been high prices, shortage of output and 
serious restrictions on sale and supply. Other novel conditions not to be 
lost sight of are the millions of men on foreign service or under military 
discipline at home, the considerable numbers of men returning on leave, the 
excitements and dislocations of war-time, the masses of women newly entered 
into industrial work, and a high level of wages offset by rising prices of all 
commodities. The salient points that emerge are, first, a heavy fall in the 
amount of absolute alcohol consumed, secondly, a vast rise in the drink-bill 
owing to higher prices for diluted liquors, and, thirdly, a most striking reduc- 
tion in convictions for drunkenness. 

(1) Measured in terms of absolute alcohol consumed, the consumption 
in 1917 is estimated at 38 per cent, below that of 1916, and 50 per cent, below 
that of the pre-war year 1913. 

(2) The drink-bill is estimated at £259,000,000 millions m 1917 ; as 
eompared with £204,000,000 in 1916 ; £182,000,000 in 1915, and £164,500,000 

in 1914. > 

(3) Convictions for drunkenness have shown an astonishing reduction 
as compared with a pre-war year, 1913. In the areas under the Liquor Control 
Board (nineteen-twentieths of Great Britain) convictions for drunkenness 
fell in 1917 to 41 per cent, of what they were in 1913 ; for the first six months 
of 1918 they were only 17 per cent, of the 1913 standard. This cannot be 
only due to absence of men at the front ; the reduction in convictions of 
women is no less marked, the figures for 1917 for women being only 33 per 
cent of the 1913 standard. The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis 
quotes and agrees with the superintendents of the 700 square miles of the 

s Metropolitan Police District, who attribute the decrease of 75 per cent, in the 
statistics of drunkenness in their area to 

"the working of the Control Board's orders with respect to restricted 

hours of sale^ treating, and their restrictions on the sale of spirits, the 

diminution in alcoholic strength of those beverages and also their greater 

cost to the consumer. 'In my judgment,' says the Commissioner, 

'their opinion upon this point should be accepted.' " 

Concurrently there has been a heavy fall in deaths from alcoholism, delirium 

.tremens cases, and also in cases partially attributable to alcohol, such as 

attempted suicide, suffocation of infants, and deaths from cirrhosis of the 

liver. 

Temporary character ol Restrictions. 
As there is sure to be a demand by the Trade for the immediate cessation 
of the war-time restrictions on the coming of peace, it is important to see the 
limits of duration of these emergency statutes and regulations. Most of the 
restrictions are made under the Defence of the Realm (Amendment No. 3) 
Act 1915, and may be continued in any area to which they are applied for a 
year from the close of the war. Any regulations made under the general 
Defence of the Realm Act lapse with the close of the war. The Clubs 
(Temporary Provisions) Act, 1915, aimed at the regulation of night clubs 
and prohibiting the use of clubs by gamesters and prostitutes, terminates at 
the close of the war. Any rest riction of output under the Outpu t of Beer 
* Report dated 25th February, 1918; quoted in Control Board's Fourth Report, page 8. 



104 LIBERAL POLICY. 

(Restriction) Acts, 1916, would lapse at the cud of the quarter in which the 
war ends. Mr. Walter Runciman has said that " if the restrictions now 
imposed on the sale of intoxicating liquor are relaxed in the least degree when 
the war is over, those responsible for their relaxation would be guilty of a 
grave social crime/' Vigilance and prompt action will be needed. 

Teachings of Experience. 

Some deductions, then, may fairly be drawn from this experience : — 

(1) Events in Canada show the possibility of getting localities with 
their own consent to free wide areas completely from the Liquor Traffic. It 
will be remembered that the Temperance (Scotland) Act, whieh grants local 
option in Scotland, comes into full force after the expiry of a time limit in 
1920. It will be for the electors to see that no Government tampers with its 
provisions. The immediate grant of local option powers over new licences 
would keep clear the areas of new housing schemes after the war, and such 
powers over all licences should be granted as soon as may be. The educative 
effect of putting powers into the hands of the people is all-important. 

(2) A policy of progressive restriction, such as the Liberal Party have 
stood for, has been vindicated. It has been often said (and never proved) 
that " you cannot make people temperate by Act of Parliament." It has 
been demonstrated beyond possibility of disproof that you can make a nation 
more sober by adoption of a restrictive policy. 

(3) The value of counter-attractions, referred to in the Manchester 
resolution on Temperance Reform, must not be overlooked. The industrial 
canteens run on temperance lines point the need for better housing and for 
" indoor parks " for winter-time in our cities. The factors that make for 
social demoralisation, such as poverty, bad housing and drink, co-exist and 
act and react on each other ; it is true that you cannot remedy one of these 
factors without also affecting the others for the better; only alcohol is a 
chemical substance that lends itself to isolation and separate scientific 
treatment. 

(4) The great improvement in social order must not lead us to forget 
that the financial problem has been solved perhaps in Canada, but not in 
England. " One of the things," said Mr. Lloyd George in 1915, " we cannot 
afford is a drink bill of £160.900,000." What we have in fact afforded in 
war-time is a drink bill of £259,000,000. With a National debt of 8,000 
millions the country cannot stand this reckless extravagance, with all it 
means. When it stops living on borrowed money, an effectual remedy must 
be found. 

" Nine Points " of the Churches. 

Much of the Transatlantic success is due to a union between all the 
American and Canadian religious bodies to promote temperance reform. 
Those who realise this fact will note with interest the formation of a Temper- 
ance Council of the Christian Churches in 1915 to focus the opinion of these 
bodies on the subject. The Council represents the temperance views of the 
Roman Catholics, the Church of England, and all the leading Nonconformist 
bodies. To secure unity of action this Council puts forward only such subjects 
as are unanimously approved by all the organisations composing the Council. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 105 

Their programme of "Nine Points »•* consists of (1) Sunday Closing, (2) restric- 
tion of hours of sale of drink on weekdays, (3) reduction of the number of 
licensed premises, (4) the increase of the power of the local licensing outhorities, 
(5) the control of clubs, (6) the abolition of grocers' licences, (7) prohibition of 
sale of intoxicating liquors to young persons, (8) local option (the Council 
defines local option as the right of a locality to vote on the three options 
" no change," " reduction," and " no licence "), (9) provision of alternatives 
to the liquor tavern. 

It will be noted that these " objectives " are very similar to many of 
the proposals embodied In the Liberal Licensing Bill of 1908, which passed 
the House of Commons by very large majorities, only to be rejected by the 
House of Lords. They lay no stress on restriction of output, the effect of 
higher prices, or the co-ordination of restrictions under a central authority ; 
and their rule of unanimity apparently prevents them from pronouncing on 
the old crux, the claim of the Trade to a vested interest in their licences. 

The vested interests of the Trade. 

On that long-standing obstacle, which has wrecked many bills, a few 
words as to the present position may be added. The anomalous vested 
interest conceded in 1904 to the licence-holder in England and Wales is 
certainly not a freehold interest ; the licence-holder under that Act has, 
subject to good conduct, at most a continuing interest in the licence, qualified 
by the right of the authority to extinguish it at yearly intervals on payment 
of compensation out of a limited fund raised from his fellow-licensees. Sir 
Thomas Whittaker, M.P., and those who follow his lead would buy out these 
interests outright ; and he is convinced alike of the financial feasibility and 
the Temperance advantages of that plan. The bulk of the Temperance 
organisations are violently opposed, fearing the dangers and hating the idea 
of the State's further complicity in the Trade. Mr. Lloyd George, as is well 
known, has advocated a scheme of purchase. The Liberal Party has in no 
way accepted the scheme, many of its financial experts holding that the 
burden of national debt is anyhow now too heavy for a speculative investment 
of millions in a trade which ought to be redueed or ultimately extinguished. 
In that case there remains no way of dealing with the vested interest, except 
by such a time-limit as on a consideration of all the equities of the case may 
be thought fair both to the Trade and the nation. Reformers of this latter 
school urge that the long time limit of 14 or 21 years proposed by way of 
compromise in the Bill of 1908 cannot now bind their hands. The Trade has 
had a still longer term of notice; and during the war Mr. Bonar Law's reduction 
of the licence duties, which fall on the profits of the Trade, by some three 
millions and the lowering of the compensation levy have enabled the Trade 
to escape the losses falling on many other industries and to make large war- 
time profits, while passing on the extra beer and spirit taxes to theconsumersf 
These points, at all events, they urge, must be considered with others when 
the settlement comes. 



* See " Nine Points on the Agenda." Hon. Sec. Temperance Council, 1, Central Buildings, 
Westminister. 

t Licence Duties, 1913, £4,52 1, 723. Compensation Levy, 1913, £849,756. 

Licence Duties, (Budget Estimate) 1918, £1,100,000. Compensation Levy, 1917, £409,916. 



XIV.— EDUCATION. 

By Lord Sheffield. 



The matters calling for Immediate decision are argent, and we cannot 
put public education in the first rank. We have won a great prize, but our 
Ship of State Is battered, and the horizon is thick with indications of troubled 
times, and the crew that mans the ship is largely increased in numbers, but 
with mariners inexperienced and more likely to listen to the voice of hope 
than of caution. It seems, therefore, not amiss to ask that time should be 
given to consider carefully proposals before they are adopted hurriedly, 
and this is specially true in the matter of education. 

The Latest Education Acts. 

We have had two important enactments this year on this subjeet, the 
one Mr. Fisher's BUI for England, the other the Scottish Education Bill. 
As to the former, it was avowedly drafted so as to avoid the controversial 
points raised by the Acts of 1902 and 1903, and challenged repeatedly by 
the whole Liberal Party from 1906, when they came into power, till the 
larger issues of the exclusive control of the House of Commons over finance, 
and the limitation of the power of the House of Lords which became import- 
ant not only in reference to finance but also on the questions of Home Rule 
for Ireland and Welsh disestablishment, made the reassertion of Liberal 
principles as to public education pass into the background. It is probably 
true that the vital questions connected with the new democratic forces 
which will henceforward have almost complete control over political issues 
have diminished the active interest of the electors in those matters whieh are 
associated with religious liberty and the exclusion of ecclesiastical influences 
from matters of civic interest. 

The advocates of religious equality and of the emancipation of the 
State from ecclesiastical control, were chiefly to be found among the great 
Nonconformist bodies. Not that the labour organisations and tbe political 
leaders of the Labour Party were not in favour of complete public manage- 
ment of the schools maintained by public funds and which are considered as 
available and suitable for the whole community. In fact, year after year 
the Trades Union Congress has passed with little or no dissent resolutions 
calling for universal public management of the public schools system, and 
for their independence of all ecclesiastical influence or denominational 
character. For many years the Congress declared in favour of a secular 
system, and though this demand has been lately modified in the direction 
of affirming the unsectarian character of the schools, there is no reason to 
doubt that the majority of the Trades Unions still prefer a secular system. 

But it must be admitted that the organised force of labour is directed 



LIBERAL POLICY. 107 

much more to the social and economic questions which affect the material 
welfare of the wage-earners than to those matters in the region of the mind, 
which though they are of the utmost importance do not come home to their 
daily life. 

Liberals and Public Control. 

When, however, the education question comes up for settlement, the 
Liberal Party will undoubtedly not prove false to its principle of public 
control and management where public money is expended. It will also 
insist that teachers who are servants of the community shall be as unfettered 
In their conscience, and in their freedom from all ecclesiastical ties and tests 
as every other servant of the State, whether municipal or national; and the 
Liberal Party will also claim that the common schools which should do 
much to lay a firm and sound foundation for common citizenship shall be 
places where the children meet as sharing a common life and where the 
common atmosphere of civic association shall prevail, and not an atmosphere 
as claimed by some of the churches, which at an age when differences based 
on diverging thoughts can have no place, shall aim at creating a prejudice 
which tends to estrange one from another those whom we wish to grow up 
as much as possible with the same ideas of duty and of citizenship. 

But this vivifying and unifying principle of the common public school 
under the management of the local community and aided from public funds 
and guided by a Central Government but not so as to supersede the full 
measure and necessary force of local management and local interest, is rather 
the foundation on which our school system must rest. The further import- 
ant condition at which we must aim is that the instruction given shall be as 
liberal and intelligent as possible and carried out in all grades so that all 
who desire to go forward shall have the fullest opportunity not only for their 
own sakes, that they may make the best use of their ability, but also for the 
sake of the community in order that all our citizens may help to the fullest 
extent to develop the resources of the nation and that all by training and 
attainments may be most qualified to do their duty to the utmost not only 
in their private capacity, but as citizens who will all have a voice in the 
affairs of the State and who should, therefore, .have impressed upon them 
their responsibility and obligation to live and act for the welfare of the whole 
community, and of the world at large. But if we insist on our schools having 
a high aim in the development of individuality, the formation of character 
and a sense of public duty, we must beware of aiming at the creation of a 
type or at the making the opinions of the majority for the time being the 
pattern to which the minds of the children should be induced to conform. 

The Teaching of a State Religion. 

There is no greater danger to the healthy development of the human 
being than the teaching of a State religion or a State morality and standard of 
public duty. There is a danger, especially now that we see what is considered 
a dangerous type of public opinion such as Bolshevism laying hold of the 
imagination and aspirations of the most numerous class, that we should 
seek for an antidote in the formal inculcation of loyalty and of patriotism. 
Such an attempt has been made in Germany and especially in Prussia, 
where the school has been used in the hope that it would turn out docile 
subjects ready to take the impression that the rulers of the State require. 



108 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Such an attempt if successful destroys self-respect and initiative and 
substitutes mechanical obedience for free assent. It is fatal to liberty in 
the nation ; it is fatal to self-respect and honesty in the teachers. A man 
who teaches what he is ordered to teach, not what he has thought out for 
himself, not only humiliates himself but sterilizes and deadens his teaching. 
Teachers, like other people, mostly reflect the current opinions of their 
age and class. Fear of public opinion, mental inertia and the unconscious 
acceptance of the general point of view are far too great hindrances to the 
free thought which is the only safe base for a clear intellectual vision and 
for the honest expression of opinion. But if we set up an obligation to teach 
some recognised set of theological doctrine, some scheme of politics or of 
economics which has State or Municipal sanction, we inevitably make the 
opinions of the day which are generally inherited opinions which are being 
unconsciously modified even while they are formulated the scholastic articles 
and creed which are expected of the scholastic servant of the State. 

In Prussia it is notorious that a most systematic enforcement of three 
or four State-approved theologies prevailed in all the schools. The free- 
thinker was not allowed to withdraw his child from the prescribed course, 
and confirmation was a State enforced rite which led up to many occupations 
including, I have heard, even some that we should consider infamous. What 
has be»en the result among the artisans of Prussia ? A neglect of the churches 
and an alienation from their ministration which is more marked than perhaps in 
any other country. The schoolmaster also was under the severest penalties 
forbidden to show any leaning to the Social Democratic Party. Probably, 
in the teachers this obligation resulted often in hypocritical uniformity, 
which though humiliating is less fatal than that " lie in the soul " which 
results in a lower moral depth than the conflict between conviction and 
acquiescence. 

As for the pupils turned out by this system, the Social Democratic Party 
rallied to itself the great majority of the working-class. But the moral 
poison of the system created a torpor of the soul which secured drilled 
obedience but crushed out initiative and that reaction of the free citizen 
spirit against official dictation which is the safeguard of liberty and the 
promiso of social progress. 

No system will secure the majority of teachers more generous, more 
active-minded, more full of a sense of responsibility than the community 
in which they iive. But if we secure to them by all legal means the absence 
of all coercion or allurement to adopt some official scheme of teaching in 
the supposed interests of the State, we may hope that their professional 
spirit and interest in the children entrusted to them will help to strengthen 
them in the claim which they ought to make for themselves and for their 
pupils that in the region of opinion they shall not only be free, but that they 
shall feel that the community values their freedom as one of the most im- 
portant conditions of their success. 

The Experience of the Scottish Education Act. 

It might be thought that this plea against setting up the compulsory 

teaching of religion or politics or economics was hardly needed at the present 

day and having regard to the traditional advocacy of civil and religious 

liberty by the Liberal Party. But the recent experience of the Scottish 



LIBERAL POLICY. 109 

Educatiom Act shows that while public attention is distracted by the war, 
we are not sate from legislation which violates the principles emphatically 
recognised by Liberals and reaffirmed by them up to the war. 

The Scottish Education Act has provided that the denominational 
schools which hitherto received Parliamentary grants but were independent 
of the School Boards and received no help from the rates shall be compulsorily 
taken over by the Sehool Boards and maintained by them, and moreover 
that while this charge is imposed on the ratepayers they shall further be 
required to buy the buildings. In addition, the teachers of these trans- 
ferred schools are all to be of the religion of the previous managers, they shall 
give the teaching hitherto given, and they shall receive the same salaries as 
the other teachers. As there are often Catholic Schools taught by nuns 
who have no separate incomes, this will amount to a large endowment of 
eon vents out of the rates. As these schools beeome public schools the local 
authority will have in many cases to spend large sums in repairing them 
and bringing them up-to-date, and if a group of parents desire a denomina- 
tional school there is a further obligation imposed on the local authority to 
provide one. Thus the denominations are relieved of the obligation if they 
want a school of a sectarian character of providing it and keeping it in 
repair, and while the schools are nominally under public management yet 
the teachers have to be satisfactory to the former managers and are subject 
to tests. 

Already the Archbishop of Canterbury and other friends of denomina- 
tional schools in England have uttered a cry of triumph and see in this 
legislation an omen of a similar invasion of sectarianism in England. 

It is surprising that a Ministry which contains many who used to pride 
themselves on their Liberalism and even their Radicalism, and which has a 
certain number of members who were formerly attached to the Labour 
Party should have combined to pass such a Bill. 

A Warning Necessary, 

But the friends of public control should give a clear warning that no 
such legislation can be tolerated in England. For in Scotland there are at 
any rate public schools under reai public management available for all and 
free from tests for teachers. But in England the greater area of the rural 
districts is still the exclusive domain of the Established Church and a majority 
of the managers are necessarily attached to that Church. In Scotland these 
denominational schools are nearly all in the large towns and merely afford 
a choice of schools to those who prefer them. But in England no one pre- 
tends that in the rural districts the denominational schools exist through the 
preference of the parents ; they exist because the combination of the land- 
owner and of the clergy, nearly always supporters of the Tory Party, have 
provided a church school, and even after the passing of the Education Act, 
2870, they secured a priority of school supply and only allowed the public 
board school to come into existence where private effort was not forthcoming. 
The existence of the dual system on England has prolonged sectarian conflicts 
and has been for nearly fifty years a hindrance to the growth of education, 
as before 1870 it stopped the way to any public effort. 

But Liberalism will not be content in this country to allow the education 
of the people to be to any extent dependent on clerical control or sectarian 



110 LIBERAL POLICY. . • 

influence. Above all things education must be under direct popular manage- 
ment of the community whose children it takes charge of and at whose cost 
it is given. The education of the community is a far more important thing 
than the care of the poor, and yet who would tolerate the maintenance of 
the Old monastic systems of doles side by side with the public relief of the 
poor, especially if the monastic almsgiving claimed a share of the rates? 

Wherever in our colonies and dominions the English race has had free 
play in the development of institutions, a state system has been established 
which had had the exclusive support of public money. 

So, too, in the United States, it has been felt that the common school 
was vital to the welfare of the people and has been one of the greatest forces 
In building up a national unity in spite of the vast influx of the most diversified 
alien immigration. 

What the Schools Should be. 

This country is now entering on a new phase of its life in which more 
than ever all are called upon to co-operate for the welfare of the community, 
and if we are to have that unity of citizenship which is one of the great 
powers which make for progress, we want especially that the schools of the 
people shall be the common ground where all shall be drawn together. 

The schools of the future will be far wider in their scope and available 
for a far larger proportion of the .population. Mr. Fisher's Act makes it 
the duty of local authorities to provide secondary education, and enacts 
that no one shall be prevented by poverty from using those schools if be is 
fit to study there. Thus the highway of learning is broad and open. No 
doubt besides free education bursaries will have to be provided to a reason- 
able extent, and the Universities also will have to be more adequately 
equipped In premises, staff, and plant, with a wide recognition of all learning 
in all its branches. 

The cost involved will be very considerable. Already, the Act of this 
Session entails a very heavy increase in the rates in spite of the promises of 
State aid. But it may be confidently expected that with the fullest measure 
of local management and control, if possible by elected authorities concerned 
with education only, the interest of the nation in all classes Will be so roused 
that it will be felt that if the burden is heavy the effort will be amply re- 
warded. 



XV.— LIBERAL PREPAREDNESS FOR WAR. 

By the Rt. Hon. Harold Baker, M.P. 



In the turmoil of the Great War there have been few efforts so misplaced 
as those Intended to east discredit on the Government in power from 1906 
to 1914 on the ground that its military preparations were inadequate. It 
is the purpose of this article to deal solely with the pre-war period, the facts 
of which are ascertainable and have almost passed into the region of history. 
Later events will only be referred to when necessary for argument or illustra- 
tion, Moreover, as the character of the war itself has tended more and 
more to colour the past, it is increasingly important in order to correct false 
impressions that events should be taken in their true order. 

Not prepared for a War of Aggression. 

It may be admitted at the outset that in so far as the charge is relative 
to Germany, who prepared as fully as her foresight permitted and enjoyed 
all the advantages of the selected moment, it holds good but is hardly worth 
stating. We were unprepared to take the initiative or even a secondary 
part in a war of aggression. In another sense also when the war broke out 
we were unprepared, in the sense in which every nation, including Germany, 
was unprepared ; that is to say, that not even the authors of the war antici- 
pated either its length or the extent to which it Would upset preconceived 
theories of tactics and preferences for particular types of armament. 
Certainly it would be unfair to blame our newly-formed General Staff for 
not being more intelligent than those of foreign nations with their accumu- 
lated knowledge and practical experience, and, indeed, there is little disposi- 
tion to do so. The charge is laid against the Government as a whole. It 
has never been precisely formulated, and, as Mr. Asquith remarked at Man- 
chester, the word unpreparedness is sometimes spoken by way of com- 
mendation, sometimes by way of reproach. However that may be, we win 
assume that there are critics who adopt it in an extreme form and allege a 
positive failure on the part of those responsible to provide the Empire with 
adequate protection against the foreseen danger of a great European war. 
Admitting that war, if not foreseen, was at least a possibility which could 
not be disregarded, we must first examine briefly the actual preparations 
made and then consider their adequacy. 

The Actual Preparations Made. 

In spite of the lesson of the South African War, in 1905 the military 
forces of the Crown may without exaggeration be described as a chaotic 
assemblage of fragments incapable of mobilisation. The Regular Army 
Was seriously deficient in many respects, and no provision had been made 
for supplying the deficiencies in the event of war. It was not fully organised 



112 LIBERAL POLICY. 

in divisions with the requisite staffs and commanders for war. The Cavalry 
was short of horses, the Artillery oi men, and the only large unit, the Aldershot 
Army Corps, was unfit to take the field without considerable delay. In the 
second line was the Militia, which was bled by the Regular Army in time 
of peace and under no obligation to serve abroad in time of war. The third 
line was composed of an indeterminate mass of Volunteers and Yeomanry, 
which competed with the Militia for the best of its recruits. Though an 
attempt had been made to lay the foundations of a brigade organisation, 
in general the Volunteers had no unit above that of a battalion. In some 
branches, such as Garrison Artillery, they had a surplus ; in others, notably in 
Field Artillery, they were wholly wanting, unless a number of so-called 
batteries of position, armed with museum specimens, are to be reckoned 
under this head. They were distributed over the country in haphazard 
fashion, with no regard to military necessities. The three lines were un- 
correlated, and had no defined functions. Above all, there was no power 
of expanding the Regular Army in time of need. 

These were the elements of the problem which Lord Haldane and his 
professional advisers had to solve, and during the years 1907-8 the framework 
of a new order of things was securely built. In the result, the three lines 
were replaced by two, each with clearly defined functions. The Expedi- 
tionary Force was created and given a divisional organisation complete with 
divisional cavalry, transport, medical and supply services, all capable of 
ready mobilisation and concentration. The Special Reserve, which took 
the place of the old Militia, was designed to complete the Expeditionary 
Force in certain minor respects on mobilisation, but principally to cover 
wastage during the first few months of a war. By an extensive scheme of 
subsidy and registration, an ample supply of horses was guaranteed for the 
Cavalry, and, at a later date, a similar system was applied to mechanical 
transport for the Army Service Corps. 

The second line was the Territorial Force, composed of 14 divisions 
and 14 mounted brigades, also complete with all the auxiliary services in 
due proportion and organised as an army on substantially the same 
pattern as the Regular Army. It was designed for home defence, or for 
voluntary service abroad. The redundant garrison artillery was for the 
most part formed into field artillery and armed with the old 15 pr. converted 
into a quick-firer. 

The question of officers, not only for mobilisation but for peace time 
also, had become serious. The old sources of supply were no longer available, 
owing to the superior attractions offered by a business career. To meet this 
difficulty and to supplement the output of Sandhurst and Woolwich, the 
Officers' Training Corps was founded in the Universities and Public Schools 
with an additional unit for London. 

Of great importance also was the reorganisation and extension of the 
Army Medical Service. That for the Regular Army was enlarged and or- 
ganised on modern scientific principles. For the Territorial Force a new 
scheme was framed, the personnel for which was to be recruited from civilian 
doctors, surgeons and nurses, and a number of general hospitals were pre- 
pared for use on the outbreak of war. it may be observed that this personnel, 
notably the Voluntary Aid Detachments, which have proved invaluable in 
war, could only have been obtained under a voluntary system. The founda- 
tions of the new Air Service were also laid. Criticism of this has been largely 



LIBERAL POLICY. 113 

to the effect that insufficient encouragement was given to inventors and 
manufacturers. Time will determine the truth ; but certainly in the initial 
stages the policy deliberately followed was to trust rather to science than to 
commercial enterprise. The National Physical Laboratory and the Royal 
Aircraft Factory were valuable factors in the development of the Flying 
Corps, and ensured progress on even lines. Finally, mention must be made 
of the National Reserve, which formed a register of men who had had previous 
military training and undertook to offer themselves in case of emergency for 
re-enlistment or for garrison duties at home. 

The General Staff : Training. 

Lastly a directive power was supplied to the machine in the shape 
of the new General Staff. Initiated by the preceding Government, it was 
organised by September, 1906, and subsequently, with the assent of the 
Colonial Premiers given at the Conference of 1907, became the Imperial 
General Staff. An Inspector of the Overseas Forces was appointed to visit 
the various Dominions and report on the growth and efficiency of their forces, 
and an interchange of staff officers was carried out. By this means unity 
of organisation and uniformity of ideas were secured without curtailment of 
independence, and when war broke out the Dominion Forces were incor- 
porated naturally and easily into the divisional organisation of the British 
Army. In defining the functions of the General Staff, great care was taken 
to limit its authority to strategy, tactics and training. Administration and 
supervision of supply, as the example of the South African War and the 
practice of foreign armies demonstrated, are no task for a commander in the 
field, and a separation of duties was essential not merely for the fixing of 
responsibility in case of failure but for the prevention of failure Itself. The 
system laid down in the Field Service Regulations Part II. has worked 
during the present war with uninterrupted smoothness, and to it must fce 
attributed the exceptional success with which the supply of men, munitions 
and food has been maintained to our armies in the field. The same 
principle of regimental formations was applied to the Territorial Force, the 
task of administration being delegated to the newly-formed County 
Associations. On the training side it should be mentioned that systematic 
provision was made in each year's estimates of a special fund to be 
expended by the General Staff on exercises and manoeuvres at its complete 
discretion. This contributed at least as much as any other factor to produce 
and maintain the exceptional quality of the Expeditionary Force. 

The two governing conceptions of these changes, both of them novel 
in our military history, were the separation of training from administration 
to which reference has just been made, and the organisation of the forces on 
a basis not of peace but of war. Rapidity of mobilisation and concentration 
was the object in view and the test applied at every stage of reform. The 
event has proved that in this respect at any rate the plans were well laid. 
On the day before the declaration of war the precautionary steps were taken 
and 20 divisions of British troops were mobilised complete in all arms. The 
Expeditionary Force, with the exception of a part which was properly with- 
held for a short time by Lord Kitchener, was despatched without hindrance 
from without or delay from within, and reached its destination according 
to the previously prepared time-table. A 7th Division was mobilised shortly 



114 LIBERAL POLICY. 

afterwards. The Territorial Force was mobilised within two days and the 
deficiancy in its numbers soon made up by the return to the ranks of men 
who had been through its training. 

Efficiency of the Army. 

From the point oi view of efficiency, the army as a whole, in the opinion 
of those best qualified to judge, was not merely better trained and better 
equipped than, but different in kind from, any that this country had ever 
produced. If moral and the other fighting qualities be included in the calcu- 
lation, it may safely be asserted that the Expeditionary Force was the finest 
military product that has ever taken the field in the history of the world. 
The scientific organisation of the Medical and Sanitary Services has saved 
eountless lives, economised man-power, and served as a model to the Allies. 
The Officers' Training Corps, with its 24,000 cadets enlisted for training as 
officers, proved a valuable reservoir for the new armies at the beginning of the 
war. The Flying Corps, which had been greatly developed by General Seely, 
soon established its superiority, and under the impulse of war has made re- 
markable progress in airmanship and mechanical construction. Last but not 
least, the Territorial Force, far from requiring the six months' training 
posited in pre-war plans, sent many of its units into the field well within 
that period, and these acquitted themselves so well as to win commendation 
from Lord French, the then Commander-in-Chief. Although still suffering 
from the undeserved depreciation of its former critics and to some extent 
ignored in Lord Kitchener's plans, the infantry rapidly reached the level of 
regiments of the line, while the artillery and yeomanry performed valuable 
services not merely passively in the Mediterranean garrisons and in India, but 
actively in Egypt and France. 

Criticism and Opposition. 

These are now commonplaces ; but the reforms of which they are the 
fruit were not carried out without opposition. The financial position of a 
War Minister in this country has never been enviable, and in 1906, with a 
majority of the House of Commons pledged to retrenchment, the difficulty 
was great. There was no opportunity for evasion. Criticism had either to 
be fairly met or frankly admitted. The estimates were, indeed, reduced ; 
but by the method, not so simple as it would appear, of excluding everything 
which did not make for military efficiency. The Territorial Force was also 
for a period made the object of a campaign which inflicted injury by deterring 
recruits. When Lord Roberts denounced the force as a delusion and a sham 
and hailed its assumed failure as a blessing in disguise, it was hardly a matter 
for surprise that its strength should continue below establishment. 

Before proceeding, it may be desirable at this stage to deal with two 
criticisms of detail which have been passed on the reconstilution of forces 
effected by Lord Haldane. The first concerns the Infantry. There Lord 
Haldane found certain battalions of the line which had been raised for the 
South African War but in time of peace could not be brought up to establish- 
ment. There were eight in particular with an average peace strength of 
about 500 instead of 750. The actual Reserve thus stood low, and there 
would have been considerable difficulty in mobilising these battalions. Drafts 
for India could only be obtained by the offer of bounties, and at the same 
time there had been grave departures from the first principles of the Cardwell 



LIBERAL POLICY. 115 

system, under which any battalion abroad was to be fed with drafts from & 
linked battalion of the same regiment at home. With a view to the creation 
of the Expeditionary Force, the 71 battalions at home became 74, thus 
duplicating the 74 abroad. The eight new battalions and also a new battalion 
of the Scots Guards, which were needed neither to give the Expeditionary 
Foree its due proportion of infantry, nor to maintain the Cardwell balance 
at home, were broken up and the men allowed to join other units or pass into 
the Reserve. 

The second criticism affects the Artillery. As applied to fighting strength, 
this charge is so grotesquely untrue that if it had not received support in 
influential though irresponsible quarters it would deserve no mention. The 
facts are simple. In the case of the Royal Garrison Artillery in distant parts 
of the world, Lord Haldane found himself in a position, with the full con- 
currence of his military advisers, to reduce the personnel. This favourable 
opportunity arose from two circumstances. One was the arrangement 
under which the defences of Halifax and Esquimalt were transferred to 
Canada. The other was the re-arming of our own and the Colonial coast 
defences with a more modern gun, which required fewer men to work it than 
the gun which it replaced. It should further be observed that this change 
was due to a recommendation of the Owen Committee, appointed before the 
Liberal Government came into power. But a more important question 
arises in connection with the Royal Field Artillery. Here the facts are 
equally simple and equally incontrovertible. In 1906 there were 99 home 
field batteries, of which 66 were required to mobilise the then field force. 
There were no training units, and owing to lack of reservists to complete the 
ammunition columns only 42 of the required 66 batteries could be mobilised, 
and this eould only be done if men were taken from the other batteries to 
fill the gaps. By 1909, through the automatic increase of the Reserve and 
the creation of the Special Reserve, the War Office was in a position to 
mobilise the 66 field batteries complete, and had also added to the Field 
Force 6 howitzer batteries of a modern type. The remaining 33 batteries 
were at first used for training the special reserve ; but as the old Reserve 
increased, the number so employed was gradually diminished and those 
thereby released were used either for extra howitzer batteries or for special 
instructional purposes. Eventually, by 1912, in place of only 42 batteries 
capable of mobilisation, there were 81. Correspondingly, the personnel 
available on mobilisation had increased from 38,725 men to 54,865. It Is 
evident that there was in fact no reduction, and that the actual mobilisable 
strength was greatly increased. When further it is remembered that a 
valuable addition to our artillery resources had been made in the creation of 
the territorial Force Artillery, the case becomes even stronger. 

To pass from misunderstandings and perversions, there is a form of 
criticism deserving of greater respect, which charges the Government with 
un preparedness on more genera! grounds. For example, it is sometimes 
argued that the reforms begun in 1906 were excellent in intention and in 
execution, but fell short of what was required, that the change in our foreign 
policy which was slowly effected during Sir E. Grey's tenure of the Foreign 
Office should have been accompanied by a corresponding change in our 
military establishment, or, in other words, that a system of Continental 
alliances demanded an army on the Continental scale. A more detailed 
answer to this argument will be found in what follows ; but here it may 



116 LIBERAL POLICY. 

suffice to say that there was no such system of Continental alliances as has 
been asserted. Our naval and military preparations were fully adequate to 
meet such obligations as we had undertaken. The primary one was, of course, 
the maintenance of a supreme Navy with an effective command of the sea. 
The secondary one, to send the Expeditionary Force to the assistance of 
France in the event of an attack by Germany, was punctually and completely 
performed. Our own interests, as well as those of our Allies, were conserved 
in the protection of the Channel Ports and the north coast of France. It 
was the Expeditionary Force that saved them, and the fact that the margin 
by which they were saved was extremely narrow cannot fairly be attributed 
to any miscalculations originating in this country. Only by a misinterpreta- 
tion of our foreign policy and of the principles of imperial defence, could more 
have been demanded of us than was actually performed. 

It is possible, however, to give a wider scope to the argument and to 
contend that if Great Britain had had an army on the Continental scale, 
that is to say, had adopted conscription at some date unnamed, the war 
would have been prevented. This may appear superficially plausible; but 
a brief examination will show that it involves two highly disputable assump- 
tions, and is also open to two fatal objections. 

The first assumption is that Germany would have stood idly by and 
would not have struck at an earlier date than that which in fact she selected. 
The period of transition from a voluntary to a compulsory system would 
have found us at oar weakest, and it requires some hardihood to maintain 
that Germany would either have ignored the implied menace or have re- 
frained from taking advantage of the opportunity, as she did in the case of 
Russia in 1914. And if it be argued that conscription should have been 
introduced before the peace of the world was definitely endangered by German 
designs, that carries us baek to a period when other Governments were in 
power. 

The second assumption is that not merely Germany but our present 
Allies also would have viewed without alarm the creation by Great Britain 
of a vast army in addition to her overwhelming Navy. Such an assumption 
contradicts experience. There might well have been such a re-marshalling 
of the present belligerents as would have left us compelled to fight alone 
against a united Europe. 

The Question of Conscription. 

To proceed to the objections, the first is admittedly not one of principle 
but of political possibilities. No Government could have proposed con- 
scription in time of peace with any prospect of retaining the confidence 
either of the House of Commons or of the country. It was always easy for 
patriotic persons to descant on dangers, real and imaginary, and to cry for 
large armies to be created in a few weeks or months ; but it cannot be doubted 
that the Government and the party which adopted such a cry would have 
suffered swift and immediate extinction. The proposals actually put forward 
were for home defence only, and any argument for them was an argument 
for a stronger navy. The fact that under the stress of war the country 
consented to conscription proves nothing, and, if tbe circumstances are 
examined, shows that only so could consent have been obtained. In both 
cases the policy followed was dictated by public opinion, and in both public 
opinion was correct. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 117 

The second objection is pureiy military in its character. After 1906 the 
problem of imperial defence was naturally considered and discussed from 
every point of view, and the solution of conscription was ultimately rejected 
on military advice and for military reasons. The experience of other 
countries showed that under a compulsory system h was difficult to secure 
adequate forces for service over seas, and though in the case of Great Britain 
by the offer of inducements sufficient men might possibly, according to some 
opinions, have been obtained to supply the needs of the Expeditionary Fcrce 
and the over-seas garrisons, yet there would have been an interval during 
which the supply would have been seriously diminished. The interests of 
India, the Colonies and the defended ports would have been temporarily 
endangered. Apart from this, the country would have been called on to 
make large provision for barracks, depots, and store accommodation, to say 
nothing of munitions and equipment, which would have required sacrifices 
in other directions. Further, the necessary staff of officers and N.C.O's. for 
the training of the new troops would have had to be produced. This also 
would take time, and though in war improvisation may be relatively rapid, 
in peace these indispensable factors eould not have been created except 
over a period of years. The best opinion was that it would take at least 
15 years to complete the system, and that during half that time we should 
be appreciably weaker than before. Conscription was a possible policy, but 
from the military point of view only possible during a period of assured peace, 
and to the military mind no such period eould have been designated between 
1906 and 1914. In fact, if conscription was necessary for the salvation of 
the country, it should have been adopted certainly not later than 1899. 
These are the reasons which are believed to have determined the War Office 
of the day to content itself with bringing the Expeditionary Force to the 
highest point of efficiency and developing the Territorial Force as a second 
line army within the limits of the voluntary system. 

Preparedness of the Navy. 

The preparedness of the Navy has never been seriously impugned. 
Differences of opinion among experts as to the relative value of types of 
vessel have always existed and have shown themselves during as well as 
before the war ; but on the main question of the power of the Navy to seize 
and keep the command of the sea there has been no controversy. Occasion 
favoured us in that the first threat of impending danger found the Fleet 
already mobilised, but the foresight of Mr. Churehil! and the then First Sea 
Lord improved the occasion. Since then it has not failed in its task of 
Imprisoning the German High Seas Fleet, and thereby maintaining uninter- 
rupted our communications and assuring the transport of troops and supplies 
to Europe and the Eastern theatres of war, As Mr. Balfour said on 1st July, 
1915, in a letter addressed to the New York World: — 

" If anyone desires to know whether the British Fleet has, during the last 
year, proved itself worthy of its traditions, there is a very simple mell:cd of 
arriving at the truth. There are seven, and only seven, functions which a 
Fleet can perform : — 

1. It may drive the enenvy's commerce off the sea. 

2. It may protect its own commerce. 

3. It may render the enemy's fleet impotent. 



118 LIBERAL POLICY. 

4. It may make the transfer of enemy troops across the sea impossible, 

whether for attack or defence. 

5. It may transport its ov/n troops where it will. 

6. It may secure their supplies ; and, in fitting circumstances. 

7. It may assist their operations. 

" All these functions have so far been successfully performed by the 
British Fleet. No German merchant ships are to be found on the ocean. 
Allied commerce is more secure from attack, legitimate and illegitimate, than 
it was after Trafalgar. The German High Sea Fleet has not as yet ventured 
beyond the security of its protected waters. No invasion has been attempted 
of these islands. British troops, in numbers unparalleled in history, have 
moved to and fro across the seas, and have been effectively supported on 
shore. The greatest of military powers has seen its Colonies wrested frcm it 
one by one, and has not been able to land a man or a gun in their defence. 
Of a fleet which has done this we may not only say that it has done much, 
but that no fleet has ever done more." 

These words are equally true in 1913, except that the bloekade of the Central 
Powers has been made more complete. 

It only remains to point out that the Navy was brought to this high 
degree of efficiency in respect of ships, armament and men under successive 
Liberal Administrations, and that it was the addition of the capital ships 
laid down by Mr. McKenna that gave it its great superiority of strength. 
This was maintained and increased under Mr. Churchill. The record of the 
Estimates, which stood at £35,000,000 in 1805-6, at £40,000,000 in 1910-11, 
and at £51,500,000 in 1914-15, proves in cold arithmetic that during these 
years no effort was spared to place our naval supremacy on an unassailable 
foundation. 

In conclusion, it must be repeated that, though prepared for war, like 
every other nation engaged we were unprepared for a war on the present 
scale. Our Army was small, but corresponded to our Imperial needs. Our 
Navy was supreme, and its size and strength were calculated according to 
the same needs. The small army was fully prepared for its allotted task as 
never before in our history, and provision had been made for its expansion 
through a properly organised second line. The governing principle of our 
military establishments was and is that alone of the European nations we 
are an Island Power with an Empire whose highways are waterways. The 
Expeditionary Force has won for itself an imperishable glory ; but in the last 
analysis it is the invincible Navy that has maintained the security of the 
Empire, and at the same time safeguarded the liberties of Europe. 



XVI.— SCOTTISH TOPICS. 

By Sir Edward Parrott, M.P. 



The exigencies of space forbid am elaborate examination of those special 
Scottish topics to which platform attention must be given at the ensuing 
election. Happily they are few in number. Such subjects as Education, 
Temperance and Housing are non-controversial, and therefore need not be 
treated in detail. The new Education Act was largely an agreed measure ; 
but Liberals may fairly claim that they played the largest part in retaining 
an ad hoc authority for local administration and in improving of the 
Bill in various other ways. The Scottish Temperance Act which comes into 
force in 1920 is generally regarded as a model Act, which England would 
do well to copy, especially as it embodies, for the first time, the full applica- 
tion of the principle of local option. Thanks to the admirable report of the 
Commission on Housing — a mine of information on every aspect of the 
question — public opinion on this vital question has been widely aroused, 
and any forthcoming legislation will mainly follow the recommendations of 
the Majority Report. Candidates will find everything they need for their 
speeches in the pages of the Report referred to. 

The only controversial issues upon which it is necessary to enlarge are 
Scottish Home Rule and various aspects of the Land Question. 

Scottish Home Rule. 

The demand for a subordinate Parliament dealing with Scottish affairs 
on Scottish soil and according to Scottish ideas has long been a national 
aspiration. For many years Scottish Liberals have waited very patiently 
for the establishment of Irish Home Rule, as the first step towards a federalised 
system for the British Isles. While they still cherish the hope that we may 
be able to go to a Peace Conference with clean hands as regards the " distress- 
ful island," they are not now content to see a measure of autonomy for 
Scotland indefinitely postponed. Many Liberals urge that a beginning of 
the Federalised system should be made north of the Tweed, where none of 
those bitter religious and political differences which have so tragically 
wrecked Irish Home Rule obtain. 

During the war Scottish Home Rulers have received a remarkable 
accession of strength, and many thousands of citizens whose interest in 
devolution was formerly academic are now ardent partisans. The gross 
ignoranee of Scottish conditions and customs exhibited by those who ad- 
minister the various "controls" from London have exasperated traders 
all over Scotland and in some cases have almost provoked them to mutiny. 
They are now convinced that nothing short of a Scottish Parliament sitting 
in Scotland can satisfy Scottish needs. At the forthcoming election every 
Liberal candidate will have to advocate an early measure of Scottish Home 
Rule and that with no uncertain voice. 



120 LIBERAL POLICY. 

The question scarcely needs argument. Every general plea for devolu- 
tion applies to Scotland with especial force. Under the most favourable 
Parliamentary conditions a composite House of Commons cannot possibly 
spare the time to do her legislative justice, and under a Tory Government 
her condition is miserable in the extreme. According to strict arithmetical 
proportion, Scotland with her 72 members is only entitled to about one-ninth 
of Parliamentary time. Every year Imperial affairs bulk more and more 
in Parliament, and the consequence is that Scotland gets far less than her fair 
share of legislative attention. She is a predominantly Libera] country, and 
Scottish members under a Liberal Administration have been very reluctant 
to exercise Parliamentary methods of duress for the purpose of forcing the 
chiefs of the party to give the time necessary for Scotland's needs. 

Under a Tory Government Scotland's authentic voice is not heard at all, 
and such legislation as is proposed embodies the views of the minority of 
the Scottish people. In 1904, under the last Tory Administration, the only 
piece of purely Scottish legislation which found its way to the Statute Book 
was an Act for the Preservation of the St. Kilda Wren ! 

There is no financial difficulty such as obtains in the case of Ireland. 
Mr. Murray Macdonald, in the admirable work which he and Lord Charnwood 
have produced on the Federal Solution, points out that " the respective con- 
tributions of England and Scotland to the Imperial Exchequer in the financial 
year 1912-13 were £154,389,000 and £19,950,000 respectively. Of these sums 
£71,289,000 in the case of England and £8,309,000 in the case of Scotland 
were derived from direct taxation, that is, from Estate Duties, Stamps, 
Land Tax, House Duty, Income Tax and Land Value Duties. The English 
Civil Government charges, which are the charges that would fall upon an 
English Parliament in a federal system involving a distribution of general 
legislative and administrative powers, amounted in the same year to 
£40,767,500 ; while the charges in the ease of Scotland amounted to 
£6,751,500. Obviously, therefore, the English and Scottish Legislatures 
could meet their revenue requirements within the domain of direct taxation." 

Control of the Administrative Departments. 

Not only does Scotland suffer from legislative anaemia under present 
conditions, but she is afflicted with an almost entire paralysis of control over 
her administrative departments. The Secretary for Scotland is, in the 
language of comic opera, the Pooh Bah of the northern Kingdom — the 
Lord High Everything Else. He Is in parliamentary control of every Scottish 
Department, and everyone agrees that his task is utterly beyond the powers 
of a single human being, however notable his ability and Industry. The 
result is that Scotland is run by an almost uncontrolled bureaucracy which is 
practically independent of Parliamentary control and is proof against the 
salutary discipline of effective public opinion. 

The office of Secretary for Scotland was only established in 1885. Prior 
to that time the sole representative of Scotland at Westminster was the 
Lord Advocate, who exactly realised the boast of James VI., four years after 
his departure for England : " Here I sit and govern Scotland with my pen ; 
I write, and it is done, and by a Clerk in Parliament I govern Scotland now." 
The ignorance, inattention and delay of the central authorities in London 
and the impotency of the Lord Advocate to get his Bills passed was too 
glaring to be ignored. In 1884 there was a great national agitation and at 



LIBERAL POLICY. 121 

an impressive meeting held in Edinburgh the following resolution was 
passed : " That in the opinion of this meeting more satisfactory arrange- 
ments for the administration of Scottish affairs are imperatively required ; 
that the increasing population and wealth of Scotland make Its proper ad- 
ministration most Important to the Empire, while its marked national 
characteristics and institutions and separate educational and legal systems 
render it impossible satisfactorily to govern Scotland solely through the 
Home Office and other existing Departments of State, already fully occupied 
by the affairs of England, and that, therefore, Government should create a 
separate and independent department for the conduct of distinctively 
Scottish affairs, responsible to Parliament and the country for Its administra- 
tion." 

On August 14th, 1885, an Act for the appointment of a Secretary for 
Scotland received the Royal Assent. The seope of the Act may be gathered 
from a list of functions transferred to the new office : Poor Law ; Lunacy ; 
Public Health ; Wild Birds Protection ; Public Works Loans ; Fishery 
Board ; General Register House in Edinburgh ; Registration of Births, 
Deaths and Marriages ; Vaccination ; Marriage Notices ; General Police ; 
Burgh Police and Improvement ; Division of Burghs into Wards ; Markets 
and Fairs ; Prisons ; Public Parks ; County General Assessment ; Turnpike 
accounts ; Roads and Bridges ; Locomotives Regulation ; Sheriff Court 
Houses ; River Pollution ; Burial Grounds ; Food and Drugs : Artisans' 
and Labourers' Dwellings ; Local Taxation Returns ; Alkali ; Salmon 
Fisheries ; School Sites ; Parliamentary Divisions ; Assessor of Railways 
and Canals ; Universities of Scotland ; Board of Manufactures ; Scotch 
Education, etc. And since those days the large field of Agriculture has been 
added to this Gargantuan list. Not even Solon himself could properly 
administer suoh a mass and variety of public services. No one will deny 
that the office is absurdly overweighted. 

Since 1884 the population has greatly increased, the industrial and 
commercial progress of the country has markedly advanced, the growth 
of towns, especially In mining districts, has raised many and urgent questions 
of loeal government — public health, water supply, sanitation, capital ex- 
penditure, police, poor law and so forth. The land question is acute and 
will become more so after the war, while Scottish housing Is in a deplorable 
condition and cries aloud for drastic Improvement. The present method of 
dealing with Scottish affairs is hopelessly out of date, and there is scarcely a 
Scottish Burgh which has not declared that the only solution of the problem 
is Scottish Home Rule. 

Scotland's Claims. 

Scotland claims with justice that she is the most advanced of the four 
nations forming the United Kingdom. Her people have every right to 
consider themselves the best educated, the most politically instructed and 
the most free from the cramping shackles of Conservatism in thought and 
action. They are proverbially loyal, cautious and far-seeing. What, then, 
hinders the immediate application of a Home Rule system ? 

In Scotland there are grave evils which can only be dealt with by Scots- 
men. Take the question of depopulation. Since 1905 Scotland's loss by 
emigration actually exeeeds that of Ireland. In 1910 no fewer than 58,384 
Scottish people abandoned the land of their birth. At the- present moment 



122 LIBERAL POLICY. 

Scotland contains fewer cultivators of the soil than any other country in 
Europe. Prior to the war, Denmark, with half the area and a little more than 
half the population, with a worse soil and a somewhat similar climate, had 
510,000 agricultural workers, while Scotland had hut 200,000. Every yea;, 
prior to the war, more and more Scottish land was going out of cultivation, 
and outside the coal and iron area the country bade fair to become little 
more than a vast game preserve. Scottish Liberals believe that the land 
problem in Scotland is so complicated and so utterly unlike that of England 
that only a Scottish Parliament can adequately deal with it. The same is 
true of her housing problem. 

Scotland needs a Renaissance and Scottish Liberals believe that a 
Scottish Parliament will accomplish it. They believe that a Scottish Parlia- 
ment will give Scotland legislation more carefully considered, better In 
quality and better adapted to her needs, as well as a more economical and 
efficient administration. Finally, they believe with De Toequeville, that a 
centre of vigorous political activity in their midst will react on the intellectual 
life of the land and produce a sew birth in literature, art and science. 

The Land. 

Nowhere in the British Islands is popular interest in questions of Land 
Reform more vivid than in Scotland, and nowhere arc audiences, whether 
in town or in country, more eager to lend assent to sound proposals which 
will make the land more accessible to competent labour. Everywhere the 
principle is recognised that the interest of the people in the land is para- 
mount and that neither sentiment nor tradition, nor the supposed sacredness 
attaching to landed property can be permitted to stand in the way of its 
fullest utilisation in the national interest. . 

Taxation of Land Values. 

In no part of the British Isles has the principle known as the Taxation 
of Land Values won sueh widespread popular assent as in Scotland. By 
the Taxation of Land Values is meant an annual tax or annual rate on the 
value of ail land, urban and rural, apart from improvements, and the remis- 
sion, a$ far as possible, of taxation upon buildings and Improvements in 
order that Industry may not be penalised. Land Value is a just source of 
revenue, for It Is in the main socially created and the community is entitled 
to take of right that which belongs to itself. The economic effect of taxing 
Land Values would be to beat down land monopoly, which now finds expres- 
sion in the exorbitant prices demanded for land — prices which are glaringly 
in excess of the value at which it is assessed for rates and taxes. 

The policy, thus outlined, is urgent in Scotland. The report of the 
Royal Commission on Housing teems with instances of outrageous prices 
demanded for land required for building purposes, public services and town 
amenity. Feuing rates in the smaller burghs vary from five to thirty times 
the agricultural value. In the larger cities they rise to a hundred times 
the agricultural Value, and more. In Dundee the prevailing rate is £80 to 
£120 per acre per annum ; in Glasgow £200 to £300 ; in Edinburgh the same, 
though instances are given in which the price rises to £656 per acre. These 
are the rates for working class houses, and their natural consequence is 
congestion and overcrowding; 

How the agricultural land, for which these prices are obtained, is taxed 



LIBERAL POLICY. 123 

appears from the White Paper 144 of 1914. The figures are for the year 
1911-12 and give the facts for 190 Scottish Burghs. The following typical 
eases are worth close examination : — 

Annual rates paid per acre 
in respect of 
Total area. Area of agri- Agricultural All other 
Aeres. cultural land. land. land. 

Glasgow (before extension). ,.12,976 2,170 3/2 £160 

Edinburgh .11,416 3,072 11/7 £87.8 

Aberdeen 6,748 2,400 7/8 £60.15 

Dundee 4,826 2,116 5/10 £90.12 

Paisley 3,538 1,100 3/6 £52.10 

Greenock 2,940 970 2/9 £61.3 

It Is obvious that a tax or rate on the market value of the land thus 
" ripening " or being held in speculation for building purposes would speedily 
bring down the outrageous prices now demanded. 

Prices of Land for Public Purposes. 

The priees charged for land needed for municipal purposes, education, 
gas and water schemes, are even more exorbitant. The Housing Commission 
quotes some figures for school sites in Edinburgh. In 1901 for a site at 
Comely Bank £4,850 per acre, equivalent to a feu of £242, was charged, 
though the surrounding fields are rated at not more than £5 per acre. In 
1903 at Craigloekhart £3,573 per acre was charged for previously vacant 
land, not rated at all. In 1907 for vacant land in Gilmore Place the priee 
paid was £8,410 per acre. 

For the right of storing water in Loch Arklet and raising its level the 
Glasgow Corporation had to pay £19,115. Other expenditure, including/ 
arbitration, brought the cost to £31,900. The area affected was 381 £ acres, 
of which 17 acres were purchased, the ownership of the rest remaining with 
the proprietor. These 38l£ acres formed part of four hill farms extending 
to 11,500 aeres, the gross rent of which was £700. The sum received by the 
proprietor was 831 years' purchase of the rateable value ; that paid by the 
Corporation was 1,387 years' purchase. 

For the land acquired for gas works at Gran ton, Edinburgh, £124,600 
was paid for 105 acres rated at an average of £5 10s. per acre. The pro- 
prietor received 214 years' purchase of the rateable value. 

Even for land required for such national purposes as the provision of 
lighthouses, the landowner takes an unconscionable tribute. In 1900, 
when a portion of the Bass Bock was required for the erection of a light- 
house, a feu duty of £40 had to be paid for the barren, sea-washed granite 
on whieh it was to stand. In 1902 the island Hyskeis was acquired for the 
same purpose at a priee of £611 3s. 3d. In neither case had the land so 
taken been regarded as of any value for rating purposes. 

High water mark was reached in the case of 10 acres of land with fore- 
shore near Greenock, needed by the Admiralty for the site of a torpedo 
depot. The rateable value was £11 2s. a year. The Admiralty paid 
£27,225, or 2,452 years' purchase. Similar cases of extortion can be multi- 
plied a hundredfold. 

A word as to the effect of land monopoly on rural land. Owners claim 



124 LIBERAL POLICY. 

a monopoly value for land whenever it is required for more productive pur- 
poses, as witness the unexampled compensation awarded on all kinds of 
claims when the Board of Agriculture and the Land Court seek to enforce 
the establishment of small holdings. Such compensation would be rendered 
impossible were land taxed according to its market value. The same remedy 
applies in the country as in towns and the result cannot but be the same, 
viz., the destruction of monopoly in land. * 

* For full list of useful publications on Land Values apply to James Busby 
(Scottish League for the Taxation of Land Values), 67, WestNile Street, 
Glasgow, or to A. W. Madsen (Edinburgh League), 24, Duke Street,, 
Edinburgh. Specially recommended and procurable from the above- 
mentioned addresses are the following: — The A. B.C. of the Land 
Question by J. Dundas White, LL.D., M.P., and his other pamphlets, 
Economic Justice, Land Values, Taxation and Feu Duties, Land Value 
Problems and Notes on Land Value Legislation in the Colonies. Out- 
lines of Lectures on the Taxation of Land Values by Louis F. Fost 
contains answers to many typical questions. Refer also to the Report 
of the Scottish Land Enquiry Committee, Chaps. 35-41. 

Small Holdings. 

The controversial questions relating to rural land mainly centre about 
Small Holdings. It is a commonplace nowadays that the maximum produc- 
tion from the soil can only be obtained by scientific intensive cultivation of 
small areas. The social aspeet is equally important with that of food pro- 
duction. '* A noble peasantry, their country's pride " can only be reared in 
vigour and independence— the latter a characteristic Scottish virtue — when 
men till the soil for themselves and reap the direct reward of every act of 
husbandry in which they engage. 

" The call of the land " makes a special appeal to Scotsmen and the 
demand for Small Holdings is always far in excess of the supply. A large 
Increase In the number of Small Holdings available, a greater facility for 
obtaining them, and readier and simpler means of securing the necessary 
capital, are imperative if more and more of our people are to be established 
on the land in the healthful and natural surroundings that make for a stalwart, 
vigorous and independent race. 

In 1911 Scotland obtained a Small Landholders Act which promised much 
but has produced grievous and widespread disappointment. Sinee 1911 no 
fewer than 6,052 persons have applied for Small Holdings. Not one in ten 
of this number has been accommodated. Less than 10 per cent, of those 
desiring to set up as small farmers have been enabled to do so. Granted that 
many of the applicants were unsuitable, the provision of new small holdings 
under the Act, nevertheless, spells failure. This failure is partly due to 
inherent defects in the Act itself, and partly to ineptitude and want of tact 
in its administration. The clause in the Act permitting the landlord to 
appeal from the Land Court to a single arbiter, provided his claim for compen- 
sation amounts to £300 or over, has proved fatal. Claims of the most 
extortionate and fantastic character have been advanced, several of them 
for sums larger than the capital value of the subjects in question. Such 
fictitious claims have necessitated costly arbitration and have made the 
furtherance of schemes for moderately sized holdings impossible. 



LIBERAL POLICY. 125 

Further, an unwilling landlord can prolong negotiations almost indefin- 
itely and can, also, re-let a farm after negotiations have been begun by the 
Board of Agriculture. Numerous other weaknesses in the Act are also 
apparent. The following amendments were approved at the recent Confer- 
ence of the Scottish Liberal Association : 

1. The distinction made between the "Landlord" and the "Statutory 
Small Tenant " must be abolished, and all occupiers of land within the 
limits of acreage and rent as denned in the Act must come into the full 
benefit of all its provisions. 

2. That on the question of forming new holdings, or the extension of 
existing holdings, the whole matter must be left in the hands of the Land 
Court without appeal to the Courts of Law. 

3. That a crofter should be encouraged to engage in any profitable 
subsidiary trade or employment, so long as such employment did not 
operate prejudicially to the cultivation of his croft, and that his engaging 
in any such trade or employment shall not in any sense prejudice his 
right under the Act. 

4. That there shall be no appeal to the Court of Session from the 
decisions of the Land Court, not even on questions of law. 

5. That in the case of a crofter dying leaving no successor, the 
croft shall not revert to the landlord without opportunity being given 
to let it to another applicant for its acquisition. 

6- The tenants under the Act should have power to take or kill deer 
or game found upon the land occupied by them. 

7. That tenants should have full power to elect as to cropping of 
their holdings whether of cereals, vegetables, fruit or other crops, or of 
the keeping of bees, poultry, or in other advantageous pursuits, so long as 
they are not detrimental in the interests of the land. 

8. That the Land Court and Board of Agriculture have a represent- 
ative elected on behalf of the Small Tenants to both the Land Court and 
Board of Agriculture, thereby securing greater confidence in the adminis- 
tration of these bodies instead of the one-sided composition presently 
existing. Every progressive Candidate will be on safe ground in pleading 
for an amending Act as an urgent need, if the Small Holdings movement is 
to attain dimensions of national importance. 

Land for Discharged Service Men. 

the Scottish Liberal Members of Parliament, realising the importance 
of settling discharged service men on the land, recently remitted to a Com- 
mittee the investigation of the whole question. The following extract from 
this Committee's Report is worth attention : — 

" In our view the claims of Scotland to a comprehensive scheme 
of land settlement are very urgent. Apart from the need of securing 
employment for men discharged from the Services, there is a very genuine 
' land hunger » in Scotland, which is clearly indicated by the fact that the 
Board of Agriculture for Scotland have ten thousand applications for 
small-holdings and enlargements lying undisposed of. A large per- 
centage of these applicants have been, or are, with the Armies in France, 
and they have had opportunities of witnessing the methods of small 
cultivation there which, no doubt, may have accentuated the desire 
that many of them have to obtain a direct interest in the cultivation of 
the land. There is also, in Scotland, a strong feeling that in justice to 



126 LIBERAL POLICY. 

these men plans should be formulated and carried into immediate 
execution for providing land (or them in their native country rather 
than that they should be driven to emigrate to the Dominions or else- 
where. There is the additional consideration that as the majority of 
the applicants referred to were employed in agriculture prior to the war, 
they are well suited to form the medium of a definite State policy of 
land settlement." 

The Committee concludes its report with a summary of its principal 
recommendations from which we extract the following : — 

(a) That the claims of Scotland to a scheme of land settlement especially 

in view of the conditions created by the war are urgent and that 
steps should be taken without delay to provide for the absorption 
into rural life of large bodies of men discharged or about to be 
discharged from the forces. 

(b) That this object can best be attained by the development of small- 
holding colonies with holdings of varying sizes, utilising where the 
conditions are suitable existing village communities throughout the 
country. 

(c) That the State should provide the expenditure required for the 

adaptation of land for small-holdings. 

(d) That provision should be made for the advance of capital for the 
equipment and stocking of the holdings to prospective settlers 
through the medium of a State-aided Land Bank. 

(e) That the spread of the co-operative movement, if necessary by the 

aid of the State, is an essential element in successful land settlement. 

(f) That great care must be taken in the selection of new settlers and 

that adequate steps should be taken to provide them with expert 
advice and instruction. 

(g) That properly organised subsidiary rural industries would add 

materally to the prosperity of the eolonies of settlers proposed to 

be set up. 
(h) That the importance of afforestation as an auxiliary industry to 

Small-holdings in Scotland is a factor which demands the fullest 

consideration. 
Candidates would do well to advocate strongly the scheme outlined 
above. Especially should they insist that no man who has faced death or 
mutilation for the salvation of his country should be compelled to expatriate 
himself because he desires to increase the national wealth and to rear his 
children for the nation's service in the pure invigorating air of his native 
land. 



INDEX. 

[The principal subjects dealt ivith in tlie articles are indicated in black type. 



PAGE 

Acland, Rt. Hon. F. D., on the 

Land and Agriculture ..^ ... 96 

Administration of Pensions ... 27 

Administrative Committee, An 

(League of Nations) 23 

Affairs at Home, The Conduct of 11 

Agricultural Workers' Wages ... 98 

Agriculture, The Land and ... 96 
Alden, Mr. Percy, on Housing and 

Health • 86 

Allotments 97 

Alternative Vote, The ... ... 58 

Army, Effi«ieney of the ... ... 114 

„ Reform, Criticism and 

Opposition ... ... ... 114 

Army, Training in the ... ... 113 

Asquith's, Mr., Foreword... ... 3 

Baker, Rt. Hon. Harold, on 

.Liberal Preparedness for War... Ill 

Boycott of German Goods, The 

Proposed ... ... ... 45 

! Building Materials... 90 

Canada, Prohibition in 102 

Canals, Control of ... ... ... 84 

Capital Levy, A 42 

„ , The replacement of ... 39 

„ , The investment of new ... 42 

Clothing 76 

Commercial " Doles," No ... 47 

„ War, Dangers of New 52 

Commons, House of, Criticism ... 12 

Compulsory Service, The Question 

of 55 

Conciliation, A Council of (League 

of Nations) ... ... ... 21 



PAGE 

Conditions of Industry ... 71 

Conference, A Representative (A 

League of Nations) 21 

Conference, Powers of the ... 22 

Conscription, The Question of ... 116 

Consumption, The Treatment of . . . 95 

Constitutional Reforms 58 

Crewe, Lord, on Ireland ... ... 53 

Demobilisation ... ... •■• 38 

, Perils of 25 

Devolution ••• ••• ••• 61 

Dickinson, Sir Willoughby H., on 
Liberalism and a League of 

Nations ... ... ••■ ••- 17 

Discharged Sailors' and Soldiers' 

Rights 24 

Editor's Note 5 

Education ... 106 

Acts, The latest ... 106 

Electrical Power ... 29 

Equal Pay for Equal Work ... 69 

Exclusion of Tariffs 44 

(of Ulster), The Policy of 54 

Expenditure (War), Effect of the 

36, 37 

Experience, Teachings of ... 104 
Extravagance of the Government 
Departments 



41 



Federation Solution (of the Irish 

Question), The 57 

Finance, National 36 

Financial System, Strength of the 43 



128 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Food, Expenditure for ... ... 75 

Foreword by Mr. Asquith ... 3 

Freedom, The Restoration of ... 30 

Free Trade 44 

Free Trade, The Neutrals and ... 51 
, The Wealth-earning 

Power of 50 

Free Trade, Women and 66 

Fuel 76 

Future, Security for the 8 

General Staff, The 113 

German Goods, The proposed 

Boycott of <■ 45 

Government Departments, Extra- 
vagance of the ... ... ■ •• 41 

GovernmeutSecurities, The repay- 
ment of... ... • •• • •• 39 



Health 91 

Health and Hygiene, Women and 67 

and Welfare Work ... 92 

, , A Spirit of Progress essen- 1 

tial 95 

, Greater Public Activity... 91 

, Housing and ... ... 86 

, The Proposed Ministry of 92 

Hogge, Mr., on Discharged Sailors' 

and Soldiers' Rights ... ... 24 

Home Rule in fact Secure ... 53 

, Scottish 119 

Hours of Work ... ... ••• 79 

Household and Personal Sundries 76 

House of Commons Criticism ... 12 

Housing and Health 86 

^ , Capital and Financial 

Assistance ... ... 89 

,, , Drastic Measures Neces- 
sary ... ... ... 91 

,, , How to deal with the 

inflated Cost of Building ... 89 

Housing, Influences of the War on 86 
, , , Need for a National 

Scheme of ... ••• ••• 87 



PAGE 

Housing, Private Enterprise un- 
equal to the occasion... 88 

,, , Reasons for a big Pro- 
gramme of ... ... 88 

Reform, Women and ... 67 

Imperial Preference ... ... 46 

Industrial Councils ... ... 72 

,, Efficiency, Greater ... 78 

Industry, Conditions of ... ... 71 

, Workers and the Control 

of ' ... '71 

International Anarchy ,.. ... 17 

,, Conciliation ... 18 

Co-operation ... 18 

'Disputes, Methods of 



Settlement of „... 


... 20 


International Justice 


... 18 


Ireland ... 


... 53 


Irish Convention, The 


... 55 


,, Policy Essential . ... 


... 56 



Jones, Rt. Hon. Leif, on National 
Finance ... ... ... ... 36 



" Key Industries," The ... 



47 



Labour, Freedom for ... ... 33 

Land and Agriculture, The ... 96 

,, , Compulsory Acquisition of 96 

„ for Discharged Service Men 125 

„ , for Housing, Purchase of ... * 90 

,, , Prices of in Scotland for 

Public Purposes ... — 123 

Land (Scottish), The 122 

„ Values, Taxation of 122 

League of Nations, Liberalism and 

a ., 17 

League of Nations, Plan of a ... 19 

,, s . The 14 

. „ „ , Women and 

the 70 

Liberalism and a League of Nations 17 

and the War ... ... 7 

Liberalism's Appeal to Women ... 65 



INDEX. 



129 



PAGE 

Liberal Party's Conciliatory Policy 

in Ireland, The ... ... ... 53 

Liberal Policy Justified ... ... 11 

Liberal Preparedness for War ... Ill 

Liberals and Public Control of 

Schools 107 

Liberties of the People, The ... 29 

Liberty, Personal ... ... ... 35 

Maternity and Infant Welfare 

Centres 93 

Men and the Minimum Wage ... 75 

Mines, Control of ... ... ... 85 

Minimum Wage, Can Industry- 
pay it? 78 

Minimum Wage, How to secure it 77 

,, ,, , Is it Necessary ? 74 

„ „ ? What should it 

be? 75 

Ministers and Parliament... ... 60 

Monopolies, National Control of ... 84 

Moral Standard, Equal ... ... 68 

Mothers and Children, Rights of... 68 



National Control of Monopolies... 84 

„ Debt, Paying off the ... 41 

Effort, The 9 

National Finance 36 

„ Sovereignty ... ... 15 

Navy, Preparedness of the ... 117 

Neutrals, The, and Free Trade ... 51 

" Nine Points " of the Churches... 104 

" Open Door," The reason for the 49 



Parrott, Sir Edward, on Scottish 

Topics 119 

Peace, A Clean ... ... ... 13 

„ Industries, The Revival of 31 

„ , The War and the 7 

Pensions and a Standard of Com- 
fort 26 

Pensions, Administration of ... 27 

,, , How the Problem must 

be dealt with 28 



PAGE 

People, Liberties of the ... ... 29 

Personal Liberty ... ... ... 35 

Petroleum and Electrical Power... 29 

Policy towards Labour, The true 34 

Press, Freedom of the ... ... 35 

Prices, Increase of .. . ... ... 78 

Problem of Pensions, How it must 

be dealt with 28 

Profits, Reduction in 78 

Prohibition in Canada ... ... 102 

„ in the United States... 102 

Public Control of Schools, Liberals 



and 



107 



Railways, Control of ... ... 84 

Reforms, Constitutional ... ... 58 

Rent 76 

Restrictions on Industry must be 



removed 



33 



Restrictions (on Liquor Traffic) 
in Great Britain... 100, 102, 103 

Roberts, Mr. Charles, on Tem- 
perance Reform... ... ... 100 

Robertson, Rt. Hon. J. M., on 
Free Trade ... ... ... 44 

Rowntree, Mr. Seebohm, on 

Conditions of Industry... ... 71 

Runciman, Mrs., on Women's 
Questions ... ... ... 65 

Sailors' and Soldiers' Rights ... 24 

Samuel, Rt. Hon. Herbert, on Con- 
stitutional Reforms ... ... 58 

,, .. », on 
The War and the Peace 7 

School Child, The Question of the 
Health of the 94 

Schools, What they should be ... 110 

Scotland's Claims ... ... ... 121 

Scottish Administrative Depart- 
ments, Control of the ... ... 120 

Scottish Education Act, The Ex- 
perience of the ... ... ... 108 

Scottish Home Rule ... ... 119 

Scottish Topics 119 

Second Chamber, The ... ... 62 

Self-culture 79 



130 



INDEX. 



Service Men, Discharged, Land 

for 125 

Settlement of International dis- 
putes, Methods of 20 

Sex Disabilities, Removal of ... 67 

Sheffield, Lord, on Education ... 106 

Small Holdings (Scottish) 124 

Social Programme, Women and... 66 

Standard of Comfort, Pensions 

and a ... ... ... ... 26 

State, Claims of the Men upon 

the 24 

State Religion, The teaching of a 107 

Subsidies must be closely watched 48 



Table of Contents ... ... ... 6 

Tariff-protected Trade, The Truth 

about ... ... ... ... 50 

Tariffs will hamper British Trade 45 

Taxation of Land Values 122 

,, , Higher, The question of 38 

,, , Rules of Equitable ... 40 

, War 37 

Temperance Reform 100 

„ „ , Women and 66 

" The Trade," Vested interests of 

the 105 

Trade Union Regulations, The ... 83 

Training and Rehabilitation of 

Discharged Men .. . ... ... 25 

Training in the Army ... ... 113 

Transition Period, A ... ... 30 



Treaties, Control of 
Trusts, The Danger of 
,, , The Question of 



PAGE 

.. 22 
. 32 

.. 83 



Unemployment, The Extent of... 81 

,, , How to deal with 81 

, The Question of 49 

United States, Prohibition in the 102 

Vested Interests of " The Trade " 105 



War and the Peace, The 


7 


,, , An End of ... 


13 


,, Expenditure, Effects of the... 


36 


,, , Lessons of the 


9 


,, , Liberalism and the... 


7 


,, , Liberal Preparedness for ... 


111 


of Aggression, Britain not 
prepared for 


111 


,, , Preparations made for 


111 


„ , The first year after the 


39 


Women and True Social Progress 


70 


, , and the Minimum Wage . . . 


76 


,, , Liberalism's Appeal to ... 


65 


Women's Questions 


65 


Wood, Rt. Hon T. McKinnon, on 
the Liberties of the People 


29 


Work, Hours of 


79 


Workers and the Control of In- 
dustry ... ... ... ..; 


71 



Young, The care of the 



92 



Published by the Liberal Publication 
Department (in connection with the 
National Liberal Federation and the Liberal 
Central Association), 42, Parliament Street, 
Westminster, S.W. 1. (Charles Geake, 
Editor), and Printed by Roberts & Leete, 
Limited, 19-25, Bermondsey Street, S.E. 1., 
and 39, Lime Street, E.C. 3. 



